Who Knew?: A Wayside Fanfiction
by PeacefullyPeaceful
Summary: Todd is dreading the coming Valentine's Day dance because of course, Maurecia wants to go with him. But is Todd's time up? Will he have to comply? Read and find out!
1. UGGGGHHHHH

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. I haven't even read all the books. (I've only read Sideways Stories :P)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Here it goes.

 **Chapter** 1: **UGGGGHHHHH**

" _Mmmmmfff_..."

Todd looked up, half asleep. Todd was your average 11-year-old boy. For those who don't know, Todd had orange hair that stuck straight up, and teeth that weren't exactly...straight. Todd isn't dumb-but he isn't Albert Einstein smart either. Todd cared for others, and is nice...most of the time. Todd had accidentally woken up early, and he realized that it was 6:00 AM. Todd didn't get ready for school until 7:00 AM; a whole hour to himself. He figured he best just go back to sleep. But he absolutely could not. You see, people (including me) sometimes have trouble going back to sleep once they get up. This is because of he knew of the loooong day of school that lay ahead of him. Don't you just hate loooong days of school? Todd decided he should start getting ready for school. Wayside Elementary School, of course. With crazy students saying all sorts of things, arithmetic that doesn't really make sense, Miss Mush's tuna surprise ( _ewww!_ ), not to mention the fact that he probably wouldn't make it the whole day without his name being circled and checked under the word **DISCIPLINE** , which meant he had to go home on the kindergarten bus. Oh, how he hated the kindergarten bus, with screaming little kids, the *ahem* _unnerving smell of what could only be called flatulence_ , not to mention it got really hot because of all the people being crowded into one place. But the thing about being on the kindergarten bus that made Todd shiver the most was the incident. You see, a long time ago, Todd went to school at a, and I quote, "Plain ol' one story school". It was all good, until one day...there were a group of kindergartners who were trying to reach a box of toys. Todd, being the role model that he was, decided to save the day and climbed up to the shelf that it was on. It fell, and the box bounced and flew out the window until it eventually got destroyed. The crying of the kids was too much to take for Todd, and that's why he transferred. Yes, today was going to be a loooong day. But at least it was Friday. But even that couldn't cheer Todd up!

He started the walk to school, as he usually did. He passed by the other identical houses around Southfairview. With his green backpack at hand, Todd groaned in agony. And again. And again. You get the idea. The sun was shining brightly, which was good, Todd guessed. That meant that there was a chance he could get a green ball. Or a red ball. It didn't really matter, as long as he didn't get the icky yellow ball. No one liked those, and you certainly wouldn't, either. Next, after about five minutes, Todd came up to some more familiar looking sites. He was at Main Street, which was everything you could expect. The streets were nicely paved, with trees as far as the eye could see. As Todd dreadfully walked, he first passed by Town Hall. Todd never really cared much for that. Well, not as much as what was next to it. What was next to it was Joey's Pizza Palace. Todd has gone there many times with his parents before, and he loved every single bit of it. Todd was seriously tempted to go in there and buy a slice of pizza with the lunch money he had and save it for later. Especially since it was Fried-Beans Friday. No one liked Fried-Beans Fridays.

He arrived at Wayside maybe 10 minutes later. He stared up at the top of the towering building, which was kind of hard, with the sun staring directly at him. He walked into Wayside. Suddenly, Joy approached him as soon as he walked in. Joy was a tomboyish-girl who went to class on the thirtieth floor of Wayside, same as Todd's. She could beat up any boy in Mrs. Jewl's class if she wanted to, but she especially liked picking on Todd, kind of like Maurecia, her best friend. This day was no different.

"Hey Todd, guess what?" Joy whispered.

Todd just wanted to get the day over with, so he just ignored her and was looking at the garbage can in the corner. But it's kind of hard to pretend someone isn't there when _they're right in front of your face!_ So he replied.

" **UGGGGHHHHH**...what is it, Joy? Can't you see I have better things to do?" Todd groaned as he rolled his eyes.

Joy made a sour face. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that VALENTINE'S DAY is only a week away!" she shouted. Now, if Todd was more ticked off, it was NOTHING compared to this. You see, Todd hated Valentine's Day. All it did was reminded him of how lonely he was, and nothing good ever came from it. Except the occasional box of chocolates from his Mom. But that's beside the point!

"Well, see you in class, Todd!" Joy said as she started the trek to Mrs. Jewl's class, her blonde ponytail bobbing.

"Class starts in about ten minutes, so I better start running." Todd dreadfully thought as he looked at the clock by the trophy case, after Joy had left of course. But not after she had asked him for his lunch, to which he denied. So Todd started the trek to the thirtieth story of Wayside, since he knew that would take a lot of time. Have you ever tried walking up thirty flights of steps every day, just to get to class? But it isn't so bad if you have people to talk to on the way there. A long time ago, all the kids of Wayside tried to find ways to make the journey to their classes less painful. They tried everything! A kid who went to class on the twenty-third floor had invented a mechanical gadget that can pick up a kid, and fling them to whatever floor they wanted, by entering the code. The kid tried using his invention, but it malfunctioned...and now it's used as a soft-server machine in the cafeteria. Go figure. Earlier in the school year, when Myron was running for class president, Myron said in his speech that he would "Help the school build an elevator for a handsome boy named Myron who has to walk up the thirty flights of stairs to Mrs. Jewls's class, and for all the other poor, poor children that also have to endure this terror." Unfortunately for him, the staff couldn't make this idea a reality, due to funds and space. Rumor has it to this day that the incident is part of the reason Stephen is the new class president. Even though no one has found a solution to this, many kids are still trying to this day. Why else does Maurecia always wear skates?

Speaking of Maurecia, (and getting back to the story, my apologies) Todd also felt extra grumpy because he knew that Maurecia was present. Now, you may be thinking,"What does _she_ have anything to do with this?" and don't get me wrong, I will explain. For those of you who don't know (and haven't watched any of the TV show), Maurecia has a **huge** crush on Todd. She has had these feelings for a while, ever since they first met in 2nd grade. The thing is, though, that it's not like she shows it very much. It's kind of a love/hate thing with her, you know? Todd never understood girls. Todd was on the seventh floor when he remembered that Maurecia was here today. Do you think that _helped_ his mood, or _worsened_ it?

Joe was walking with him, so he asked Todd what was wrong. "Hey Todd! Why the long face?" Joe asked, his curly hair shining as they walked past a window. "Oh...it's...it's nothing really. Just don't worry about it." Todd replied nervously, sweat dripping down from his face. But Joe knew what was up, being friends with Todd for so long. "It's _Maurecia_ again, isn't it?" Joe sighed, as the two walked up more flights of stairs. They were now on the tenth floor. "How did you know?!" Todd snapped. Joe scratched his fuzzy hair, then looked up at Todd with a "Seriously?" face. Joe informed, "Dude! How could you **not** know?!" I mean seriously, you two are like a power couple!" Todd was furious. "I DO NOT like Maurecia!" Todd yelled. Todd then covered his mouth as Louis looked at Todd, perplexed. Louis was on the fifteen floor, along with Todd and Joe. "What was that, Todd?" Louis asked. Todd then realized that he had just said that out loud, for the whole world to hear. "Oh...it's nothing really. Just don't worry about it." Todd replied, reassuringly. Todd then watched as Joe slapped his own face for unknown reasons.

 **END** **OF CHAPTER 1**

Thanks for reading!

 _Please review,_

 _Please,_

 _If you do,_

 _I'll be like "Woohoo!"_

 _Thank you!_


	2. A Butterfly With Three Arms

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapter 1 is on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Here it goes.

Chapter 2: A Butterfly With Three Arms

Todd dreadfully entered Mrs. Jewel's classroom at 7:40. "Well, here goes," Todd thought as he opened the door to " _the class on the thirtieth story"_ as it was known by children on the other floors...lucky them. Todd entered, and found what seemed like a million eyes looking at him.  
"Welcome Todd! Please take a seat at your desk." Mrs. Jewels, the kids' pink-haired teacher instructed Todd. Todd then sat at his seat at the way back of the classroom, behind Eric Bacon and to the right of Leslie. Mrs. Jewels started telling the students what they will be doing for the day. "Now, class, settle down," Mrs. Jewls told the class. Everyone (except Todd) got out of their seats and started acting **crazy**! All the kids were doing all sorts of things! Eric Fry was _running_ on the **ceiling**! Jenny started flipping over desks, one by one. John started walking _normally_. Now that's commitment.

Todd hid in one of the nearby file cabinets, trying his best to avoid all the chaos. " _What in the heck is going on?_ " Todd thought, worried as the file cabinet started filling up with Todd's _perspiration_. " _All my years I've been here, I've never seen anything like_ -OOOFFF!" Todd started thinking, before Myron " **accidentally** " knocked over the cabinet while dancing and singing "I'm A Little Teapot" at the top of his lungs. The cabinet landed with it facing up, but Todd couldn't seem to get himself out. Unluckily for Todd, Maurecia heard that Todd was in there. She was looking for him, and stopped doing push-ups with her pinkies. Maurecia opened and peered into the filing cabinet, without Todd's knowledge. "Hiya, Todd!" she cheerfully said in her tomboyish-voice. FINALLY! Todd breathed in some fresh air in relief. It didn't exactly smell the best in there, you know. "Mrs. Jewels-" Todd said softly, his body still crammed inside the cabinet. **"WHAT?"** Mrs. Jewels called out over all the ruckus. "MRS. JEWELS!" Todd yelled, still inside the cabinet. This time Mrs. Jewels heard Todd, but only barely. " **AUGGHH! THERE'S AN EVIL CABINET MONSTER! I'LL GET IT!** " Mrs. Jewels shrieked, heading to the filing cabinet with a turkey baster she kept in her desk, just in case this happened...or if _Sammy returned_.

"No! Mrs. Jewels! It's me! Todd! I'm inside this filing cabinet! I need you to get me out of here!" Todd yelled. Suddenly, Joy heard Todd. "I can get you out of there, Todd..." Joy mischievously whispered, as she leaned over Todd's soon-to-be-broken body. "No! It's alright! Really! I'm fine!" Todd pleaded as Joy started dragging Todd out of the cabinet. Her fingernails dug into Todd's skin, who was now yelping for help. Maurecia watched in amazement as Joy did this. "Wow, _thanks a lot, Joy..._ " Todd said sarcastically. "No problem." replied Joy. Todd ran through everyone, and spoke with Mrs. Jewels. "Mrs. Jewels, what is the meaning of all this?" Todd asked, concerned. "Todd," Mrs. Jewels reminded Todd. "Today is **not** Opposite Day. And we are **not** exercising **unhealthily**." Todd was confused, so he just went to his desk and read a comic book. At 8:30 the bell rang for recess. That's when things got interesting.

Once the bell rang, Stephen darted to the door, and turned off the lights, as all presidents do. Todd tried to get over all of the kids running out the door...but he got trampled. He was as flat as a pancake! Maurecia stood over him, with a smirk on her face. "Todd," Maurecia said. "Is it alright if I help you up?" She held out her hand, much to the orange-haired boy's surprise. "Uh...sure... I guess." Todd questionably replied to the purple-haired girl. Maurecia pulled Todd up, and then...

" **OUCH**!" Todd yelled as Maurecia, as usual, punched him in the arm. "What was _that_ for?" Todd continued as Maurecia had a smile on her face. "Bye, Todd." Maurecia said, and roller-skated away. Todd looked out the window, still clutching his arm, and saw everyone playing all sorts of games. He knew that it was too late to get a ball that worked, but he went down there anyway. Better than nothing, am I right? As soon as he arrived to the recess yard, he went to Louis. "Hey, Louis, do you have any good balls left over?" Todd asked just to be sure. "No, here, have a black ball." Louis replied, and handed Todd an icky black ball. No one liked those. Todd scratched his head, and said thanks. Todd went near the tether ball courts to see if there was anything interesting going on there. Sure enough, Eric Fry and Eric Bacon were wrapped up in a game. "Hey guys, do you think I can get next game?" Todd reluctantly asked. " _*huff*_ No. Just wait." Eric Bacon replied, out of breath. Todd then left, much to his dismay.

Everywhere Todd went, everyone replied the same thing: " ** _No!_** " It really got on Todd's nerves, so he thought he should hang out with Shari. After all, she was always sleeping, so she couldn't say _no to him._ Todd moped over to the bench where Shari usually was, but to his surprise, Shari was nowhere to be found! It turns out, Shari was playing Four-Square with Myron, Dana, and Jenny. Who knew she could be so active? Everyone didn't notice that Todd was by himself, because they were all invested in their playground games. All except for one specific person...Maurecia. (duh!) Maurecia roller-skated all the way from the kickball court to Todd. " _Psssst_ ," Maurecia whispered, sitting right next to Todd. Todd looked up from his palms. "I shouldn't be doing this, but...I'm speaking the _opposite of opposite_."

Suddenly, something clicked. Todd stood up and yelled, "Psssst," Maurecia whispered, sitting right next to Todd. Todd looked up from his palms. Suddenly, something clicked. Todd stood up and yelled, **"TODAY** **IS** **NOT** **OPPOSITE** **DAY!"** Maurecia was wondering what was going on, as everyone stopped playing their giddy games and looked over. "Um...Todd?" Maurecia asked. Todd sat back down, and replied,"Yes, Maurecia?" "You just now realized that today is _not_ opposite day?" "YES! AND NOW I'M GOING TO PLAY A GAME OF-" Suddenly, the bell rang, and all the kids started heading inside. "C'mon Todd," Maurecia laughed. "You don't wanna be late for the lesson, do you?"

Todd started walking up the 30 flights of stairs, for he was feeling easygoing. He finally could get through the rest of the day without getting confused. The whole class was also walking, along with him. "So, Sister Mo, how's your relationship with Todd, huh?" Jenny asked Maurecia. "He's _greeaatt_..." Maurecia replied, staring off. "Uh, Sister Mo? You there?" Jenny questioned. "Yeah, I am. He's just so amazing!" _I_ _wonder if he likes me..._ " "I don't know, Sister Mo. But if one things for certain, it's that sometime soon, you gotta ask him to the Valentines Day Dance!" Maurecia was uncertain. What if he said no? Then she would be heartbroken for **life!** But then again, wasn't worth a shot.

"Okay class. Back to learning." Mrs. Jewels said, signaling everyone to stop dilly-dallying. "It is time for…everyone's favorite… **ARITHMETIC!** " Everyone (including Todd) sighed. Myron suddenly raised his hand. "Um...Mrs. Jewels," Myron called, adjusting his glasses. "Is it cool if we could **not** do something else today?" "We can **not** think of something else to do after arithmetic," Mrs. Jewels replied. "Now, let's start off with some exercises. What does one banana plus one chicken equal?" The whole class sighed, for they forgot the answer. Leslie then raised her hand, "Wouldn't it **not** be fifty million?" "Very good Leslie! Alrighty, who can tell me what techno plus vampires equals?" Mrs, Jewels asked, writing on the chalkboard rapidly. Todd found it hard to concentrate, trying to keep up with the pace. He was scribbling every single word from the board into his sideways notebook. "No volunteers? Guess I will just have to draw flaws..." announced Mrs. Jewels, while tapping her chin. Who had the most flaws in the classroom? Of course, this meant... "Todd! How about you answer?" Todd looked up, nervous. Todd was still adjusting to his new curriculum. "Um...would the answer be…" Todd answered, but then suddenly heard s _omeone whispering_. " _Pssssst! The answer is 2007! I know this one! Trust me!_ " **Maurecia** whispered rather loudly, to Todd. "Is it **not**...2007?" Todd asked his teacher. The irony was so present that you could feel it pressed against your face, burning. Todd was taking advice from Maurecia, as she couldn't care less about schoolwork.

"Correct, Todd! Very good! You're getting the hang of this! Now, I would like for you all to go over your homework from last night with the people around you! **Not** starting… **now**!" Todd, Maurecia, Myron, and Dana were all in their own group, but they were interested in discussing other things than homework... "That was awfully nice of you to help Todd out like that, Maurecia! I can see your relationship is growing!" Dana cheered. **"Excuse me?!"** Todd snapped. Maurecia blushed, as she put her gum beneath the stable table. "Yeah, everyone's talking about it," Dana continued, being the gossip that she is. "You two go together like...like..." "Like peanut butter and jelly?" Myron proposed, making Todd feel sick to his stomach. "...like a _butterfly_ with...with... _three arms_!" Dana again cheered. "Yeah!" Myron agreed. " _Oh, Todd_..." Maurecia swooned. Todd didn't know what to do. A rumor swarming like bees about him and Maurecia that wasn't even true? Now what?

Please review! Everyone who reads this, please do! That's what keeps me going!

 **Stay tuned for chapter 3!**


	3. Goodnight!

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1 and 2 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand ;)

Here it goes.

Chapter 3: Goodnight~

 ***dramatic music*** When we last saw Todd, he was recovering from a case of what I believe to be called, " _severe shock_ ". Yeah. It's not that great. So, let's get back to it, shall we?

Todd opened his eyes, unaware of what just happened. He saw fuzzy grey shapes, and didn't know what was going on. Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard. _"Todd! Todd! Are you okay?!"_ it said. The fuzzy grey shapes came into view, and it turned out to be nothing more than his friends. "Todd, are you okay?! What's wrong?" Mrs. Jewels asked, much to Todd's confusion. Todd got up, for he was laying on the hard, cold, floor. "I- I- don't know what happened. I was just talking with Myron, and Dana, and-" Todd paused, as it all came back to him. The whole school was thinking that him and Maurecia were dating. _How could things get any worse?_

 _"_ Maurecia!" Todd snapped, pointing at her. "Yes, Todd?" Maurecia answered, being the hopeless romantic that she is. "This is all your fault," Todd continued. "If you hadn't been telling all your girl friends false information, I wouldn't be having such a bad day!" Before Maurecia could speak, Mrs. Jewels replied, "Todd! That's **not** mean. You know I'm going to have to put your name under the word DISCIPLINE." "No! Mrs. Jewels! I didn't mean it like that!" Todd started, but then was cut off by the sound of Mrs. Jewels writing Todd's name on the chalk board.

The _**SCREECH!**_ was too much for Todd to take. Next thing Todd knew, everyone was back in their seats. Arithmetic was over, which was good. "Now class, after that rude interruption, we shall do," Mrs. Jewels thought out loud. "Thinking! That's right! Does anyone have any ideas for what we can do next?" Immediately everyone raised their hands...except for Shari, because she was sleeping. "Hmmm, who should I pick on first...how about...Jenny!" Mrs. Jewels decided, and pointed at Jenny. Jenny pumped her fist in the air and exclaimed, " **Wheels extreme!** " Mrs. Jewels then decided that everyone could do whatever they want, much to the classes' surprise.

Again, everyone pretty much did whatever they wanted to. Myron played Crazy 8s with Dana, the three Erics went outside and played all sort of sports, Shari napped, and Jenny did _wheels extreme! Whatever that means..._ But anyways, everyone was totally cool with what Mrs. Jewels had instructed. Everyone except for...Todd. He was just standing in the corner, thinking. Thinking. Todd decided to go out of the classroom...after all, Mrs. Jewels said they could do **anything** , right? He headed out the classroom and into the hallways and just wandered around. The hallways on the twentieth floor were poorly lit and kind of creepy-looking. Wayside has so many different floors that they're hard to take of. One time a kid named Jason Güt egged the trophy case on the seventeenth floor, but at least the sticky mess has dried up since then.

About ten minutes later, Todd came back into Mrs. Jewels's classroom, only to find that absolutely no one was there! The whole classroom was as empty as Todd's wishes, and he didn't know what he should do! Hmmm...maybe they all went to recess? This bewildered Todd, and he didn't know what to do. He raced down the thirty flights of stairs, down to the recess yard. But still, it seemed that **absolutely no one was there.** "Oh man, what am I going to do? _What am I going to do?!_ " Todd thought, worried. He then thought of all the different places everyone could possibly be in.

 _The cafeteria?_ No, it wasn't lunch time. _Another teachers' classroom?_ No, that wouldn't make any sense. How about... _the gym?_ Hey, there's an idea! Todd then rushed to the gymnasium, hoping to meet up with his fellow classmates. Todd eventually arrived at the gym, and sure enough, everyone was getting their energy on...you know what I mean. "Mrs. Jewels! So sorry, I didn't realize that everyone had returned to the agenda. _Please_ _don't_ -" "Todd pleaded, before being interrupted. "Todd, you know what must be done." Mrs. Jewels interrupted. Mrs. Jewels then whispered something into Dana's ear, and immediately Dana ran all the way to Mrs. Jewels's classroom, checked Todd's name, and ran all the way back. "Sorry, Todd." Dana apologized as soon as she came back.

The rest of the day kind of _seemed_ to drag on for poor Todd. The class did all sorts of quote-on-quote "fun", "exciting" and "exquisite" school activities, such as making your own first name out of hardened beans, or writing a 1000-word essay on how to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. So, does that sound like fun to you? _Because it_ _doesn't sound like fun to me..._

 _The room was crisp. Crisp to the point where you could eat it like a bag of potater chips._

The whole class was working on typical math problems. You know the type. Banana + chicken = 50 million. 10 years + phone = zero. Etc. Todd was baffled, it seemed like everyone in the entire class had no problem with the problems, but Todd could only think. **Think. Think.** Think of a way to do this without cheating, or else Todd's name would be circled, and that would mean him having to go home on the…wait for it… **kindergarten bus!** What could be worse to poor old Todd? Absolutely nothing.

Todd looked around the room. He tried to find someone around him he can ask for help, because he couldn't afford another bad grade. The last time he failed math, Todd's grade dropped so low to the point where he was grounded for two weeks! Imagine doing nothing for two weeks. Then you know Todd's pain. Mrs. Jewels was busily reading a magazine about the many different species of worms, so Todd took a gamble. _"Pssst,"_ Todd whispered, reaching over and tapping Leslie's shoulder, hoping she could help him. But Todd immediately regretted it. _"AaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaHHH!"_ Leslie shrieked, in fear that _someone was trying to pull her_ _pigtails. Again._

Suddenly, almost superhumanly, Mrs. Jewels sprung up from her seat, and the whole class looked over at **Todd**. At **Todd**. "Todd!" Mrs. Jewels exclaimed from the other side of the room. "I've **not** had enough of you today, Todd. First you were _mean to_ _Maurecia_. Then you _left off without all of us_ , and now you're _messing with Leslie_!" Mrs. Jewels angrily continued. Todd then worriedly whimpered, "Are you going to… **gulp** … _send me home early on the kindergarten bus?_ " Todd started to sweat, as he knew the terrors that soon await him. Mrs. Jewels then circled Todd's name under the word DISCIPLINE. The sound of the chalk writing on the board was too much for Todd to take. **_SCREEEEECH!_**

Once the bell rand around afternoon times, Todd immediately started heading down the stairs to the dreaded kindergarten bus. But sadly, Todd is used to this so it wasn't _that_ big of a deal. It's just that Todd is trying his best out there. It's not easy to **not** be sent home when you're **so** much of a troublemaker. Todd stepped outside and looked over, his eyes trying hard not to stare down the gaping sun. Sure enough, the regular busses for the little tykes were there. Todd stepped in line behind a small, sweaty, chubby boy wearing a lime-green baseball cap and sweatpants. _Todd already_ _started to feel uncomfortable._ The kid started _picking his nose,_ and sticking it on his **shirt.** It was like a whole collection on there! Todd shivered at the thought of himself becoming the little boy's next target.

Todd stepped inside the bus, his backpack as full as ever. _"Uh-huh. You again?!"_ the bus driver snapped as he glared at Todd from the corner of his eye. Todd ignored him and just stared down the rows that were filled to the brim with kindergarteners… _kindergartens_ … Todd sat down at one of the only empty seats on the bus, trying his best to drown out the loud yells of the kids by plugging his ears. All the noise was unbearable for poor old Todd. He watched as all the kids came on the bus, scrambling around to find a place to sit. However, a girl stepped in, and it was Joy! She **deviously** looked at Todd and decided to sit next to him, just to bother him.

"Hey Todd," Joy said to Todd, sitting right next to him. "Couldn't make it without getting sent home early, huh?" "Yea. I don't know why, but this just keeps happening to me. At least tomorrow's Saturday. Why are you on the kindergarten bus, hmmm?" Todd replied. "Oh, the usual. I was playing a game of kickball with Rondi during recess and I when kicked the ball a little too hard and knocked out _one of the teeth she didn't have_." "Oh man, that must've been horrible. Poor Rondi." Todd sighed as he stared blankly out the window, the bus starting to take off.

 _Soon enough, the bus arrived home. Todd immediately went to work on his homework, and then he went to bed. He didn't even have dinner, he was so flustered._

Todd called out his usual goodnights to his parents, and headed down the hall to his room. Todd looked at his alarm clock, which read **8:30 P.M.** He took off his shoes and jumped into bed. He didn't even bother putting on his pajammies. Nope. Straight to bed he went.

All of a sudden, Todd woke up. He looked at his clock, which read **9:00 P.M.** Todd couldn't believe he was only asleep for 30 measly minutes. He decided it was best that he just go right back to sleep, which was _easier said than done_. Todd pulled the covers over his face in agony, for he just could not fall back asleep! Todd's mind just kept bouncing from thought to thought. Todd sighed, and just stared toward the ceiling, his hands folded. " _What am I going to do?_ " Todd whispered to himself, and sighed again. "The Valentines Day dance is in a week, and Maurecia is probably going to ask me! I mean, I don't want to hurt her feelings, but at the same time, I don't want her to think of me as a _jerk_."

He once again fell back asleep. Until midnight anyway, again Todd's eyes opened, one by one. " _I think I need a midnight snack…_ " Todd thought, getting out of bed and tip-toeing down the shadow-covered hallways. He eventually came across the kitchen, in all of it's glory. Todd yawned and opened up the refrigerator, peering in. He immediately grabbed the milk jug and poured it into a cup. Todd stared out the kitchen window while finishing off his milk, when the strangest thing happened. He suddenly heard a loud **_CAWWWWW!_** noise coming from outside, which terrified Todd. He ducked down and saw as a kid around Todd's age wearing a bicycle helmet riding a scooter came into view.

The kid noticed Todd (who was beyond scared at this point) and waved. The kid then loudly whispered," **Goodnight~** " and disappeared into the night.

 **Well, I believe that's it for now. But don't worry, more will come soon! Anyways, thank you for reading this, and make sure to review! Love you guys! :) Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!**


	4. Blackout

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1 and 2 as well as 3 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand. Don't worry. I won't judge ;)

 _Also, shout out to AH14 for_ _following this story! Go check them_ _out!_

 _Also, Happy Valentines Day everyone! Eat a box of chocolates for me!_

Here it goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Blackout

Todd woke up, glad that it was the weekend. All of the stress at school was just becoming **too much** for Todd. Todd got out of his bed and walked down the stairs to the living room, to see if there were any good cartoons on. (if I were him I would check to see if _Wayside_ is on!) Todd sighed as there was nothing good on. But it's okay because he can barely see the TV screen with the sun beating on it anyways.

Todd was in a decent mood for a good five minutes, but then he remembered _what_ _had happened in_ _the middle of the night yesterday_. The snack. The fear. The kid. The thought of the weird kid just seemed to irk Todd…and not in a good way...It must've known Todd by the way he talked to him…so  reassuring. But the kid spoke in a whisper so he couldn't exactly pin-point who it was. Talk about weird all right!

Todd got up from the couch and decided it's best he make some toast…toast. Todd tightened his robe as he looked out the window, the mailman making his usual rounds. Todd put the bread into the toaster without a single thought. He then pored a glass of milk and took out a yogurt from the fridge. "Typical, boring, Saturday morning." Todd thought droningly, wiping off the crusty eye boogers from the corner of his eyes.

After Todd finished off his breakfast, he decided it was best he took a shower. Todd stepped inside the shower and wondered what was going on today. For whatever reason, the water wasn't warm. It was only **_moderately warm_**. This kind of bothered Todd, and made him feel uncomfortable. Todd then remembered his plans for the day: he was going to go to the mall with his friends at 1:00 PM. Yes, that's right, all Todd's friends: Myron, Dana, and… _Maurecia. "_ Dang it! Why in the world did I let Maurecia, of all people, join us for an afternoon of shopping? _Shopping?_ **SHOPPING!** " Todd couldn't believe his own thoughts and thinking anymore.

It was now around 9:30-ish o'clock, in the A.M.-ey. You know how it goes, when it's around a certain time, but not quite, **hmmm.** The next thing Todd knew, his dad came down from across the hallway. Todd's father looked how he usually looks in the mornings: frassled dark-ish orange hair, crusty eyes, hairy legs, a few pimples, and wearing nothing but… a pair of underwear and a simple bath robe. "Morning, son. How did you _sleep?_ " Todd nodded, "I slept pretty good." "Have any _dreams?_ " Todd tried his best to think. He actually **did** have a dream last night, _hmmm…_

 _"I'm certainly telling you, Mr. Todd. You should **seriously** consider taking advantage of this investment." _ Gerbil Investor informed Todd, reassuringly, pacing around Todd's spacious desk. After all, Todd _was_ the prez. Todd tapped his chin, and tried his best to be rational about the whole… **situation**. Todd then spoke, "I'm not so sure if this is a risk I'm willing to take..." Todd then folded his paper into a paper airplane, flew it into the stratosphere for a measly .006 minutes, then it came straight back to Todd.

"You see, my _kids_ and my _wife_ are **really** counting on me to bring home the bacon, wash the dishes, etc. Let's suppose, that I uh…decided to invest in your invention of these so-called _"self-driving cars"_. Imagine how that could effect me and my personal life, as well as my kids and my beautiful wife, **Maurecia.** I would never be able to-"

Suddenly, a blonde figure barged through the door _ecstatically_. And guess who it was?! It was **Joy!** "Oh Todd!" Joy exclaimed at Todd's desk. _"You wouldn't want to_ _be lonely at the school dance, now would you?"_ Joy continued, much to Todd's dismay. **"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

Todd decided to just shrug his shoulders and reply with, "I dunno." "I'm going to make myself a cup of coffee." Todd's father responded, dumbfounded. He then headed off to do so. Todd got some chores done, and he did everything you could possibly imagine: he folded the laundry, took out the trash, dusted his room, **cleaned** his room, made his bed, washed the dishes, etc. Being an only child means that you have to do **all** the chores. It's **not** easy.

Todd realized he had some English homework he had to take care of… _oh, the_ _humanity_. "Alright, let's just get this over with." Todd thought to himself. His assignment was he had to write a paragraph about _The Dangers of Lint_. Todd let out one of his deepest upon deepest sighs. " _How do they expect me to know this stuff? I'm not...'unique' like everyone else! How can they just assume that I **learn** just like everyone else! That I'm **like everyone else?!**_ " Todd thought in agony, struggling to come up with at least **one** sentence of his essay. Todd glanced at the clock. It was currently **11:00 PM.** Impossible! Todd thought it was around 12!

Todd slaved away more at his English homework, taking about another hour-and-a-half to complete. How odd. Usually it takes much, much longer to complete his homework! Maybe Todd was **finally** starting to learn at Wayside, considering his _normalness_. But Todd had better things to do. Todd looked over at the clock, which now, astonishingly, read… **12:33 PM.** Toddwas glad that he had gotten ready earlier, as now he had his…nutrition homework to deal with! Yayyy!

At approximately **12:45 PM** , Todd and his mom got into the car and headed off. Before they both knew it, they were there! Ah, yes. Their car pulled up into the grey parking lot, the 6th spot in the middle row, _to be exact_. Todd, as well as his mother, got out of the car and simultaneously smelled the fresh air. Ahhhhh, _how good it_ _smells!_ Todd's mother turned towards him. "Now, I would like you to be at the entrance of the West Side Mall at **4:30 PM** so I can pick you up, okay?" "Yes, I hear you Mom." Todd responded, rolling his eyes. " _Just making sure you know_ ," Todd's mother reassured. "Bye sweetie! **Have a fun time!** "

Todd gazed up at West Side Mall, just as his mother was driving off. He could **hear** the seagulls chattering away from a distance off. He could **smell** the smell of… _*sniff*_ burger meat and leather. Man, what a pleasant aroma. He could **feel** the feel of…the inside of his pockets as he stepped towards the entrance. Nothing could make this feeling any better. Not even…

 **"AAAAAHHHHHAAAAA!"** Dana screeched as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere, startling poor old Todd. She then started chuckling, before "Enough with the fun!" "Why did you scare me?! I could've had a heart attack." Todd exclaimed. "You told us that you would meet us here at approximately **1:00 PM!** It is currently **1:01** **PM!"**

Todd eventually met up with Myron, as well as Maurecia. He got startled by Dana. Much, much different. They all met nearby a directory, not too far from the entrance. They tried their best to think of where they should go to eat, with there being so many different choices! "Hmmm," Myron thought out loud, tapping his chin as he looked at the directory. "Ooh! I know! Why don't we go to Petey's Pizza Place? I hear they have a great deal going on right now, where you can buy-" _"YAWN!"_ Maurecia interrupted to Myron's dismay. "Why don't we go to Stan's Steakhouse? They always have great food there." Dana adjusted her glasses and again glanced at the directory. "We'll see, I was actually hoping more classy. The fanciest resteraunt around," Dana informed, leaving Todd wondering. "Why don't we go to Brander's Bistro? They have a lovely variety in their dishes, as well as…" Todd tuned the rest of Dana's chatter out, for convenience, for himself as well as me, the author _:)_. Todd chose to contribute his thoughts as well. "I was actually thinking we could go and get some Mongoli-"

"Well, since _no one else_ seems to have any ideas, it's decided. We're going to _Stan's_ _Steakhouse."_ Maurecia rudely decided for everyone, interrupting Todd. "But I haven't even- ** _OW!_** " Todd chimed in before Maurecia slugged him in the arm. Ooh, _the pain!_ They walked around, looking at all the different stores. There were so many! They all sold everything from jars of burgers to all the books in the _Wayside franchise!_

"So…how has…school been going-uh?" Myron asked them, trying his best to at least start a conversation. " **UGGGGHHHHH...** " Todd responded, annoyed. We obviously know how he feels. Dana then responded, "Great, just like usual. Although, I'm not so sure if I'm going to get a good grade on my science project…" Maurecia then also replied, "Well I'm always getting good grades! Todd, if you're looking for some help, _you can always ask me!_ _"_ Now Todd was even more annoyed! Yay!

They all eventually arrived. The place was dark, and the tables and floors were made of polished wood. How elegant! All the steaks were displayed at the front, for _maximum mouth-wateringness._ And the best part? There was barely anyone there, which was **unusual** for a Saturday afternoon... The place smelled of smoked meat, _delicious_ smoked beef with a side of...you get the point.

They didn't even have to wait to get a seat. A few minutes after they stepped in, a bald waiter with a brown mustache escorted them to a shiny wooden table. How fancy! They all, of course, got kids menus. "I will be back in a bit." The waiter informed, and then left. Myron scrambled in his cushioned seat and asked rather loudly, raising his hand, _"Hey! Are the cheesy fries made with REAL 100% cheese?! If so, may I have extra cheese?!" _Of course, none of the waiters heard him. "Wow, Maurecia. I never knew you had such great tastes when it comes to cuisines! They have premium ribs, exquisite salads, and more!" Dana grinned. "Thanks," Maurecia replied. "I think I'm going to get the well-done kids steak. Yum." "Hmmm…I think I'll just have cheesy fries." Myron said. "I think I'll go for the Ceaser Salad." Todd wasn't so sure if he was hungry, so he decided on the kids pizza.

After the waiter came back, they all ordered, which was good. They all discussed what was going on. Myron thanked Dana for help on his upcoming science project. Maurecia talked about how she and Jenny's **"Wheels Extreme!"** Yea. Dana talked about the next solar eclipse, on August 21st, 2017. Todd…kept silent. He was desperately trying not to think about the Valentines Day Dance…in less than a week! _How horrible._ What was Todd going to do. Their food soon enough came, and boy, was it all delicious! Every steak, cooked to perfection. Every cheesy-fry, _cheese-ified._ Every pizza slice, filled with nostalgia. Every salad, nice, _cold, and crispy. It's all goood._

"What's everyone going to do for um… the Valentines Day Dance this Friday?" Dana just **had** to ask that question. She just **had** to! Suddenly Myron raised his hand…as if he was still in school. "Ooh, ooh, I need to use the bathroom." Myron pleaded, and then left to use it. "I better help Myron find the bathroom," Dana said, leaving the table. "Be right back." Now guess who was left at the table, and forced to talk to each other? You guessed it. **Todd and Maurecia.**

 **"So, Todd, what were you planning for the dance?"** Maurecia asked, to Todd's fear. Todd started to sweat, and just fiddled with his chocolate milk, before responding with, "Um…I was actually thinking about staying home and doing whatever." Maurecia then replied, "Todd…I was hoping you would-" Suddenly! Myron and Dana came back. They sat down and said simultaneously, "We're back." It's almost as if Todd and Maurecia were living in a cliché Fanfiction. Huh. How odd.

Todd was _relieved._ "Alright, so how are we going to deal with the bill." They all stared at the bill blankly. Dana flipped it over, revealing the cost to be… a whooping **17.63.** "Could've been worse," Myron said, whoosing. "Now then, who's going to pay? I have zero money on me right now." Myron continued, adjusting his glasses. Everyone glanced at each other, expecting someone to say that they would. But no one did. Or at least until…

Todd muttered, **"Okay, I will."** Todd proceeded to pull of a twenty dollar bill from his shoe, that he was saving just in case something like this would happen. "Oh Todd, you're so amazing! Paying for the table! What a gentleman." Maurecia swooned. Myron and Dana were both very impressed, even though they didn't want to show it.

They all continued their journey across the mall, visiting all sorts of stores, like phone stores, clothing stores, food stores, store stores, you name it they went to it. All was good…

The quadruple were in the finest electronics store in the mall: **MockBusters.** They have all the greatest steals there. Heck, I even go there sometimes! Anyways, everything was fine. Todd was looking at some vintage VHS's, Myron and Dana were observing the different DVDs, and Maurecia decided to play Wheels Extreme: The Video Game on the tablets they had in store. "You guys gotta try this," Maurecia advised from the other side of the store. _"Yeah yeah yeah."_ Myron rudely interrupted. "You know guys, I've really been having fun today. You guys are the best!" Todd admitted. "Awww, thanks!" Dana replied. Todd then continued, "I was also wondering, if…"

All of a sudden, the power went out, and it was **pitch black!** This startled them, but Myron got shook the worst. He yelled and tried to find a hiding place, all while crying over and over again, **"Who turned out the lights? Who turned out the lights? Oh, this is just like when I was class pres!"** It was frantic. "Myron, don't panic. It's just a power outage." Dana assured Myron. "Guys, I'm going home. I need to take care of my math homework. Seeya guys," Maurecia called out from the deep dark depths. "Byeee." Myron and Dana said simultaneously. "Seeya Todd." Maurecia…whispered. "Wha-t?" Todd questioned. No one was there now. "Great," Todd muttered to himself, in the darkness. "How am I going to get home now? It's 5:00 and dark outside! _Stupid Daylight Savings._ "

Todd zipped up his rain coat and started heading out. Luckily, there were many fireflies and other creatures to help keep Todd company. It **felt** later than it actually was, so Todd had to be extra careful when out on his own. You never know what creeps are hiding in the shadows. Todd wasn't too far from his home, only a couple blocks away from his house, when he heard all the latest pop jams coming from Wayside. Todd was curious and tired, so he decided to visit and see what, was going, on.

 **Sorry to kind of end it here, but I really want some more reviews to come in. Until then, bye bye! ;)**


	5. Code Purple Nurple

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, and also 4 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand. Don't worry. I won't judge. Why would I? This is a fanfiction after all. ;)

Also: huge shoutout to UltimateEchoEcho217 for following me, favoriting me, following this story, and favoriting this story! (whew that's a mouthful) Go check them out! :)

Here it goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Code Purple Nurple

Todd stepped quietly across the road, eager to see what was the deal with all the flashing lights coming from Wayside school. The sound Todd's shoes made as he walked across the cement was pretty good. Todd felt kind-of warm inside his dark rain coat. He looked up and noticed the dark gray clouds filling up the sky. There was a chance it could storm. That wouldn't be good. _"Gotta find someplace to_ _keep warm,"_ Todd thought as his shoes squished the wet grass of the entrance.

The heavy breeze pushed Todd forward a little. Now Todd was in front of the front door, the pop music blaring loud and neon colors shining from the towering building. He put his hands in his coat pockets and eyed the school from the bottom up. Todd stared up at the sky, noticing the constellations up above. How beautiful! Todd wondered if he should go in or not. It would probably take Todd a while to head home, so there was basically-

 **"HEEEEE-YAAAHHH!"** came a familiar sort-of-high-pitched voice as two figures jumped out of the bushes, startling Todd! He fell back to the ground in shock and hyperventilated. The two figures were now above Todd, and one of them spoke up. _"Oh. My. Gosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!"_ **It was D. J.!** He smiled a wide smile and helped Todd up, his dark hair shining under a lamppost. "I'm so sorry about that, Todd! I thought you were an intruder." The other kid showed her face, and guess who it was? It was Shari, and she was snoring away as usual. Sleepwalking is a form of art that takes years to master, and no one could do that better than her.

Todd brushed the dust from his coat, and stared at D. J. "Uhm... it's okay, D. J.," Todd casually responded. D. J. smiled again, showing off his pearly whites, before he suddenly said, "Awwwww man! I should probably explain what's going on..." Todd was finally going to get an answer.D. J. tapped his chin and stopped for a moment. "You see, um... the whole class was going to throw another blowout party, since after all, Valentines Day is in less than a week. I told Shari-" Shari then, as if on-cue, snored rather loudly at her name. D. J. continued.

"I told Shari to hand out everyone in class a card to let them know, but Shari must've somehow forgotten about you. Sorry!" D. J. continued, leaving Todd staring blankly into face. Literally. D. J.'s face is so handsome you just want to stare at it all day. Yet he doesn't have a girlfriend. Todd shook his head and remembered what he was doing. "It's okay man. These things happen." Todd said.

D. J. sighed reassuringly. Todd spoke. "Another thing, I thought I saw a weird kid the other night riding on a scooter. He said goodnight to me and really spooked me! Do you know anything about this?" D. J. tapped his chin, thinking of an answer. He didn't know. "Sorry, but I dunno. Maybe you can ask someone at the party about that. Anyways, to get into the party, you need tell me the secret password!"

Todd thought of what it could be, before D. J. whispered in Todd's ear, _"It's 'love and tomatoes' by the way."_ D. J. stepped back to his spot as a bouncer, and asked again what the secret password was. "Uhm…is it, _'love and tomatoes'_?" Todd answered rather dubiously. "Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Come on in..."

D. J. and Shari stepped to the side, and the door to Wayside opened, as if by magic. Shari snored and Todd thanked D. J. Todd could not believe his eyes. Inside Wayside was the most out-of-control-party Todd had ever seen in his life! There were kids hanging upside down on the American flag. The whole room was lit up with assorted neon colors, dazzling like it was their job. Not only that, but also there was a gigantic disco ball and punch tables every 5 feet! There were kids from every grade dancing, and chatting, and laughing, just overall having a good-

 **"WAZZUP TODD HOW'S IT GOING?!"** John shouted (he was the one of the ones who opened the door), startling poor old Todd. "Gotcha dude." Jenny chuckled (she was behind the other door), again startling Todd a little, much to the humor of a lot of the kids there. Even some of the kids from the kindergarten bus were laughing! John tugged on the rope next to him, which was connected to a bell that rang.

Soon enough, the life of the party skated over. _"Maurecia?! Of all people who could've been the host, Maurecia?! I thought she would be home eating ice cream or something!"_ Todd thought as he heard Maurecia wheeling over. **"Oh! Todd! You came!"** She realized. She then gave Todd a big hug! "Eww, get a room, you two." John commented, much to Todd's embarrassment.

"I told Shari the names of all the people that she should hand out cards to. I must've been so engaged in writing it that I forgot about you! I'm really sorry." Maurecia apologized, something she didn't do often. Todd was surprised. Maurecia being nice to him?! _No way!_ "Uhm… it's okay I guess." Maurecia was relieved. She smiled, and said, "Glad to hear that Todd." **Then she hugged him!** Todd felt a little awkward with her arms wrapped around him, but he hugged her back anyway. It felt kind of... _good._

After the embrace, Maurecia turned around, and called out, "Somebody! Please show Todd around and get him a refreshment!" Eric Fry came rushing over, in fear of being kicked out if he didn't do what Maurecia wanted. Maurecia roller skated away.

Eric Fry ran over to Todd, and handed him a red plastic cup full of root beer. He was dressed nicely in a tuxedo, and his hair was slicked back with gel. _"How about I show you all the things we have here, huh?"_ Eric asked. "Sure." Todd responded classily. Todd felt like a king! And one thing was for sure: he was going to have fun tonight.

* * *

Eric Fry and Todd first headed down the stairs, into the basement. Todd didn't even know Wayside had a basement! "So yeah, Maurecia payed me and some others kids to run this party. You know. Pouring drinks. Making sure everything's a-okay. The works." Eric Fry informed as him and Todd walked down the stairs. "Yeah, but why though?" "Well, I guess I have nothing better to do than to hang out with the other Erics." Todd and Eric Fry walked further down, until they came to a door that had pop music blaring through it.

"So yea, here we have **The Crazy Room**. It's called that because, well..." Eric Fry spoke, getting out the special key Maurecia gave him. He unlocked the door, and much to Todd's surprise... **"YEEAAHHH!"** one of the little kids screamed as Eric Fry opened the door. _The whole room was filled with little kids!_ "...it's filled with crazy little kids. Yaay!" **"YAAAAYYY!"** all the kids repeated back.

"Why keep them all down here?" Todd asked, checking out the room. It was brightly colored and had about every toy you played with as a kid. "Well, to make sure the don't interfere with us, older, finer gentlemen, they hang out in here. They don't seem to mind, so everything is fine!" Eric Fry answered casually. "Um, excuse me?" a tiny voice peeked out from nowhere. Eric Fry and Todd looked down and there was a little girl staring straight at them, tugging at Eric's pants.

"Uhhh... not to disrupt you or anyfing but I think that boy ovew dere just made a stinky. I fink it's best you take cawe of it, mistew." the girl continued, stroking her blonde pigtails and ruffling her pink shirt. Eric Fry and Todd looked at each other with concern. Eric Fry pulled out a special walkie-talkie that Maurecia gave him and all the other lackeys in case of emergency.

"Chhhh! _This is 'Butterfingers' here!_ Chhhh! Come in, Purple Sparrow! I repeat, come in purple sparrow! Over." Eric Fry called into the small box to all the other lackeys, as well as Maurecia. " _Cheeeee-woooo._ I hear you loud and clear, 'Butterfingers'. What's your situation, over." Maurecia called back. "Chhhh, um yea… we have a **code brown** in **room B-36.** Over."

" _Cheeeeee-wooooo. Darn!_ Well,this has to happen eventually. Oh well. _Cheeee-wooooo._ Attention! This is Purple Sparrow. I repeat, this is Purple Sparrow. We appear to have a code brown in **room B-36.** Would there be someone so kind as to, oh I don't know... _take care of it?!_ Over." Maurecia cackled through the walkie-talkie.

No one responded or anything until Eric Bacon did. _"Ftttt! I guess I will. Because no one else will! Ftttttt! Over."_ Eric Fry breathed a sigh of relief. He was already exhausted from dealing with everything else. He put his walkie talkie in his pocket and returned to Todd. "...Alright then. On with the tour!"

They didn't want to go back all the way upstairs so Todd and Eric Fry decided to use the school elevator instead. They were at the first floor of the spacious building, the same floor the office was on. Eric Fry and Todd were standing near the middle of the gigantic Wayside! logo on the floor. The question was, how are they going to get the elevator to come? "Butterfingers" pulled out his transmitter once more.

"Chhhh, um yea… we have a **code purple nurple** on the **first floor** **.** I need someone to set up the games for later. Over." Maurecia/Purple Sparrow eventually responded to "Butterfingers". She said Captain Syrup would take care of it. "Sorry if I'm wasting your time, Todd." Eric apologized. "It's fine. Seriously. I have all night here, so yea." "Okay dokay artichokay. Thank you for your patience, now, let me show you how to activate the elevator if you ever are late to class or something. Man do I hate having to walk up all those ding-dang-dong stairs!"

* * *

Todd took a couple steps back. He knew things were about to get serious. "Alright, watch out," Eric Fry spoke, as he made sure he was _perfectly_ in the middle of the giant Wayside logo. He couldn't even be 1 millimeter away from the center! Todd was amazed at how precise he was. Either that, or at how much of a nerd he was. He then proceeded to knock on the floor in a rhythmic beat. Todd just watched. Eric stopped. _"Um... was that supposed to-"_ Todd questioned, when all of a sudden...

 _ **CRASSHHH!**_ ...the elevator broke through the logo! Apparently, what Eric was doing was performing a super-secret password. Only teachers at Wayside knew it. How else was Mrs. Jewels never tired by the time she was at her classroom? "Are you sure we should be doing this? I have a bad experience with the school elevator..." Todd asked. "Eh, we'll be fine. I know how to work this thing pretty well. Just don't tell any of the teachers that we're using this, _okey?_ " Todd zipped his lips (metaphorically, of course).

Eric pushed the button and the doors swung open. The duo stepped inside, only to be greeted with an- _ech!_ ...putrid smell. Todd gagged a little as the doors shut in front of them. Todd spoke. " _Ugh!_ Why does it smell so bad, might I ask?" Even Eric Fry was using his tuxedo to mask the horrible smell. "I suppose it might be because it's very old, and hasn't been cleaned in a while. I mean, other than us students once in a while, who actually uses this thing?" Eric Fry pushed the button to the fifth story. "True, true." Todd responded. Todd was surprised the elevator still worked.

They arrived at the fifth story soon enough. Todd and Eric stepped out, gasping for air, glad they escaped that awful smell. The fifth story was unusually dark and... quiet. "So yea, I basically am like, the keeper of peace at this party. I control all the stuff, make sure all the stuff is in check, yeah. I'm pretty _sweeet._ " Eric started bragging as they walked down the empty hallway, much to Todd's annoyance. Todd just stared off outside the window. You have to admit, the stars look very beautiful at night.

"-and that's how I became class president. But it was only for a short time because I accidentally forgot to do that thing I mentioned earlier. This was long before you went to this school, wasn't it? Long before Myron became prez, right? Bah, I can't remember a lot of things, I have so much on my mind." Eric Fry just went on and on and on and on! Thank goodness Todd had learned how to ignore someone a long time ago. He can thank Maurecia for that.

Todd just stared at the trophy cases and rows and rows of lockers they passed by while Eric was yapping away. They eventually met with the end of the hallway. Room number... 512. Todd had never seen a lot on this floor before. He never had the chance. Eric knew the school inside and out because he had been there a long time, so he knew where he was going. Eric got out his special key and unlocked the door.

Inside the room was... everyone! All of Todd's closest friends were in there. Maurecia was head-in-chief, and she was sitting on a beanbag on the teacher's desk near the front. Myron was playing on a Game Boy and eating an entire box of cereal (straight from the box) while chilling out on a beanbag. And Dana was pacing in a corner of the room while doing some math on her calculator. **"Woahhh! Hey guys!"** Todd exclaimed, in awe of the whole scene. The room they were in had everything.

The while room was decorated with pastel blue chandeliers that lit up everything. Somehow, they (Todd's friends) even had the floor be all shag carpeting that was all the different colors of the rainbow. Even the cabinets were painted pretty colors. And there was even a gorgeous view of the night sky. The room had pop music coming from a loud radio on one of the shelves. Yea, it was _pretty schweet._

"I brought him here, just like you said, Purple Sparr- I mean Maurecia." Eric said over the music. "Great," Maurecia exclaimed. She rolled over to the classroom door, in front of Todd and Eric. "Remind me to pay you later." Maurecia continued. _"Does this mean?!"_ Eric said excitedly. "Yes, if it's possible, I'll let you run the next party. But first, I need you to go get some more friends, like, D. J. and Joy. Ok?" "Butterfingers" jumped for joy. "Yes! **You can count on me!"** Then he ran out, his arms behind him.

Maurecia acknowledged Todd. "Hiya Todd! How are you?" Maurecia asked, smiling and trying to keep herself from going SQUEEEEEE! "I have been- ** _OUCH!_** " Todd answered, before he got cut off by Maurecia slugging him in the arm. Same old Maurecia! _"What was that for?"_ Todd asked, neither Myron or Dana noticing. They were just doing their own things. Yea. "I don't know, Todd. So, how do you like the party so far? I cannot tell you how long it took to get everything set up! I had to hire Bebe to design the flyers, the three Erics to be waiters and tour guides, D. J. to be the comedian, and so on. It wasn't easy."

Sometimes, although Todd himself would never admit it, he sometimes wished he was as cool as Maurecia. He would never have the guts to do something as daring as throw a huge party on a Saturday night like this. Never in a million years. Todd responded. "Well, I really have to hand it to you. This place is amazing! I don't understand how you got all this to work, heh heh." Maurecia smiled. "So glad you could make it Todd. You're the guest of honor! So anyways, I gotta check the sound system. Seeya in a bit, Todd." Maurecia roller skated out the door. "Ooohhh, Todd!" Maurecia sighed to herself.

Todd shifted his attention to _the other two people in the room._ "Hey Myron, hey Dana. How are you guys?" Myron looked up from what he were doing. "Hey Todd! (crunch)" Myron responded, chowing down on cereal like nobody's business. "Hey Todd! How did you get here?" Dana said, not even looking up from her work. "Hmm, well I just walked all the way over here after the power outage because I got scared. Speaking of which... _how does Wayside have power?_ " Todd asked, admiring the room more. Dana adjusted her glasses. "Oh! Maurecia bought a spare battery just in case something like this would happen. It came all the way from Nigeria!"

Well now Todd was sure of one thing: Maurecia is one. Smart. Cookie. "Oh! That's pretty... cool. Well, I think it's best I enjoy the party, so, I'll see you guys later?" Todd replied. "Sure! (munch munch) Buh-bye Todd! (swallow) Aww, dangit! I lost again! No one takes down the class president! No one! Remember!" Myron said, mouth full of half-chewed cereal. Todd started to head out the door, when Dana, out of nowhere, yelled, **"WAITTT!"** Todd stopped and asked why. Dana pulled out the Wayside rule book out from behind her back (where she keeps it stored) and began.

"In the Wayside rule book, it specifically states, under section 124A, that Wayside students, that would be you Todd, absolutely cannot go out a door and back out to the hallway if it is dark outside." Todd was obviously confused. "Well, if we're going to throw a big party like this, we might as well follow the rules. (starts giggling)- **enough** **with the fun!** " Dana continued. Todd scratched his head. "Then how am I supposed to-" Dana again chuckled. "Um, I don't know, maybe by _the window?_ Hurr-durr." She pointed out the window. Todd was again confused.

"Don't worry, Todd, look out the window." Dana continued. Todd approached it and saw a huge trampoline at the bottom. "Just go ahead and jump onto the trampoline. Easy peasy!" Todd didn't know if he should go through and do that or not. He couldn't just go out the classroom door with Dana peeking her eyes over Todd's shoulder (well not literally, but you know what I mean). Todd looked out at the ground below, when suddenly...

...Dana pushed Todd out and exclaimed, "I'm sorry Todd! But rules are rules!" Todd screeched as he flew down thirty stories, like Shari once did by mistake. Only this time, Todd was awake! "Auugghh! Someone help!" Todd called out. Surprisingly, none of the kids even noticed Todd falling. They didn't look out the windows. In less than 7 seconds, Todd hit the trampoline and he dozed off for a little.

* * *

When Todd opened his eyes again, he groaned. He was beside the trampoline that cushioned him. Everything was slightly blurry. But only _slightly_. Eventually everything became clear once more, and Todd got up. His clothes were covered with dirt. Todd thought nothing of it and brushed it off with his hands. He could still hear the pop music blaring like a siren from the towering building. Judging by the position of the stars, it seemed as if only a little time had passed. Which was good, considering he didn't want to miss too much of the party.

He cut through the grass back to the entrance of Wayside. D. J. and Shari were snoozing, so Todd ever so carefully tip-toed past them. _"Huh. I didn't know that D. J. snores. Weird,"_ Todd thought as he speeded past them. _"Maybe picking them to be the bouncers wasn't Maurecia's brightest idea."_ Todd knew John and Joy were most likely waiting to scare more people from behind the door, so he pushed open the forts as fast as he could! "Heeyah!" Todd exclaimed as he used all his might, when suddenly.

 _BONK!_ Went Joy and John's skulls against the solid door. "Owww," Joy groaned, as she fell down from the door being slammed into her forehead. John didn't say anything, but he did get knocked down. "Oof! Who did that?!" he muttered, as he pulled himself back up. Todd realized what he did, and he went over to the two to apologize.

Todd speeded towards them and gasped. Joy had a rather annoyed look on her face, similar to how Maurecia looks when someone tries to punch **_her._** "Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry you guys! I didn't mean to hit you guys! I'm very sorry!" Todd explained, and tried to help Joy up. It was the _least_ he could do. "It's fine, we'll settle this later," Joy began, pushing Todd a little. John was fine.

* * *

Now, it was time for Todd to finally have lots of **FUN!** There were so many things he could do, but he decided to get some grub first. Can't party hard on an empty stomach, now can you? Luckily, there were many booths that all had delicious food. Apparently, there was even a Starstruck™ coffee shop! You just gotta love that. Todd looked over the people dancing and hanging out to see where the food was. He spotted the Starstruck™, and decided to go there first. Todd just had an odd craving for something sweet at the moment.

Now, I don't know if you know this, but Starstruck™ is a really cool place. It has to be, like, the most well-known coffee place in the world! Everyone knows about it, and everyone goes there. The first one was opened in 1967, and to this day it still stands. Todd has went there once with Myron, but other than that, he hasn't really beeen to one.

Todd pulled out a chair next to a 3rd-grade girl. And then to the right of him was nobody. The seats were leather, and _very comfy_. Seriously, you could sit in it for hours and it would still feel nice. He rang the bell conveniently located in front of him. Sure enough, the worker sproinged up.

Guess who it was? It was none other than... _Rondi_! She was looking as fresh as ever, with her two front teeth missing, but her other twenty-two beautiful teeth still in tact. But what was even more beautiful was her hat and scarf that she didn't wear. She has such a lovely fashion sense! But why was she working _at Starstruck, of all places? Meh_ it probably didn't matter.

"Oh heeeyyyy Tooodddd! What awe you doing hewe, huh?! I didn't think Mauwethia invited you? Guess you pwoved me wong today!" Todd just rolled his eyes, gazing at the neon lights and smoke machine smoke all around him. "Hey there. Maurecia invited me because she likes m- I mean... because she likes the taste of Todd-flavored ice cream. Yea." Todd knew that he couldn't just go blabbing other people's business all willy-nilly.

"So, what can I get fow you?" Todd analyzed the menu to the best of his ability. Although it was kind of hard to when there's smoke flying everywhere. All that standed out to Todd was the quadruple chocolate chip cookie, the delicious cake- flavored pastry item, and the... _unicorn coffee!_ Oh boy, you just gotta love the unicorns. _You just gotta._

Todd decided for the quadruple chocolate chip cookie. He was really in the mood for chocolate. Not only that, there was no way he was going to get something as fattening as a " _pastry item_ " or " _unicorn-themed drink_ ". He told Rondi his order.

Rondi responded. "Oooohhh... sorry about that! We ran fwesh out on Satuwday! _Guess you'll have to pick out somefing else._ " Todd face palmed, the kid next to him eyeing him. He dug his hands into his forehead and sighed, "But how?! _You guys just opened today!_ " Rondi shrugged, as she didn't really care. Todd looked up at the menu again. "Okay, okay, okay." Todd said, straightening out his clothes.

"I guess I'm gonna have to go with the delicious 'pastry item' I guess." Todd sighed, as he knew it was very unhealthy. He guessed he didn't have any other option. Rondi stared into space for a couple moments and hummed a little tune before saying, "I'm sowwy, you'we pwobably not going to believe this, but we seem to be out of the 'pastwie items' also." John came over, not noticing Todd there and picked up his pastry he ordered. "Thanks, Rondi. Here." he said as he handed her two dollars. He ran off.

"I thought you said you were out of pastry items?" Todd asked, confused as ever. "Oh, that was the wast of them. Yea. That's it." She then pulled out one from one of the cabinets and snatched it down rather loudly in front of Todd. All the crumbs spurted out of her mouth and onto Todd's face. It wasn't very pleasant. "Ugghhh, I guess I'll take the only option that's left," Todd groaned. "I will take one... one... _'unicorn-themed drink'._ "

Rondi giggled, and started making the refreshment. She started preparing the oozy purple liquid and churning out the whipped cream. Todd turned his chair around and stared at the entrance through all the neon lights and smoke machine smoke and glow sticks. He felt so lucky to be at a place like that, considering he's not exactly the most popular person on th-

 **"Oh. My. Gosh! Ohmygosh, oh my gosh!"** a group of girls screamed from a corner of the Dancing Room. They came rushing over to Todd unexpectedly! They all were around Todd's age, probably from another class though. They all had high heels, makeup and stylish clothes. They started giggling and talking uncontrollably. Finally one of them spoke up. "I can't believe it! I'm actually talking to the one and only Todd! ***giggles*** You are so awesome! You should like, totally hang out with us sometime!" She brushed her cherry-red hair and applied black lipstick.

All the other girls talked to Todd a lot also. Todd was surprised that he became so popular in such a short time! But why though? Was it because he had many friends? Was it because he had connections with Maurecia, the person who thrower the party? What a mystery. Soon enough, the group of girls left and Todd received his unicorn drink. He sipped down the whipped cream and magenta liquid in under a minute. He thought he had it made, with all these chicks talking to him and everything. But little did he know, that Maurecia was watching him from the thirtieth floor.

"Todd, I know you will be my boyfriend some day." she said to herself, eyeing him.

 **Yup, well, I think that's it for now. Sorry if it's kind of a weird place to end it off, but I just wrote a bunch and I need a little break. But! Do not fret, another chapter will find its way. Eventually. Thanks for all the support you guys. You really are the thing keeping me going. Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter. Until then, peace.**


	6. Hide-And-Seek

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand. Don't worry. I won't judge. Why would I? This is a fanfiction after all. We are free to do whatever we want! (almost) ;)

Also: huge shoutout to mixofix for reviewing this story, not only one, but two reviews on this story! Also they favorited this story! Amazing! Go check them out! :)

Also also: huge thanks to giolingad for following **and** favoriting this story! I highly recommend you check them out!

Here it goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Hide-And-Seek

The unicorn-themed drink went straight through Todd in half a second! And that thing had a whooping 35g of sugar in it! Oh boy, that's not good, Todd can't handle a lot of sugar. Soon enough, Todd was on a MAJOR sugar rush! He got out of his seat and jumped up and down rapidly. Rondi just stared at him, confused as ever. "Awe you okay, Todd?" she asked, dumbfounded.

Todd turned his head 360 degrees and responded with, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Fine I'm. Fine. Fine. _Finefinefinefinefinefinefine_!" Todd jumped five feet into the air enthusiastically, and fell back down in under a second. He was really into it! Then Todd flapped his hands, spun his arms, and did a little dance for no apparent reason. "Maybe having that wasn't such a good idear," Rondi spoke. She had never seen someone act this way after drinking one of those. Usually nothing happens.

"Eh, youknow- uh- youknowwhat?! I th-think I'll be g-g-goood..." Todd responded, stammering a little. Rondi shrugged. "Well, whateva you say. Aftew aww, you awe the smawt one."

Todd tapped his feet faster than you can say **"Where is this going exactly?"** and put his arms behind his back. He was getting ready to run, and boy, he had enough energy to run a marathon!

Sadly though, Todd didn't know what marathons they had at the moment, so he unsubconsciously came up with a better plan: _he was going to run all the way up to Mrs. Jewels classroom on the 30th floor in under a minute!_ Todd left the room and went to the gigantic Wayside logo from earlier. He made sure that he was standing _perfectly_ in the middle.

Todd's thoughts raced. He couldn't think clearly, but of course he didn't know that. Poor old Todd thought he was fine! After Todd aligned himself just right, he jumped up and down a little 3 times. Then he went from 0 mph to 70 mph in a little under a half second! His two legs carried him as fast and as best as they could, and of course they did a great job at that. _You can do anything when you're full of sugar, can't you?!_

However, it wasn't too long before Todd's legs got tired. A wave of sweat swept across his forehead, and his mouth became very dry. Todd gasped for air, it seemed that the sugar effect wore off! The only problem with sugar is you can't really be hopped up for long. It's unfortunate, really. And oh boy, guess what's the worst part? You guessed it, the **sugar crash.** After the rush comes a nasty sudden loss of energy! Yikes! It's like you're feeling on top of the world one second, then you hit rock bottom. Not the best feeling in the world.

Todd was on the 18th floor, and then he was on the 20th floor. He didn't know if he had enough energy to walk up 10 more floors. "(gasp) Aufff... I don't think I can... (puff) make it!" Todd groaned, clawing up the stairs and nearly out of breath. He crawled up to the 22nd floor, and then collapsed out of exhaustion. He laid on the floor, full of perspiration.

While all of this was happening, on the 23rd floor...

* * *

Louis was making his regular rounds at Wayside. Sometimes being the school janitor/playground monitor isn't the easiest thing, having to supervise all the wonderfully unique children, make sure everything's working okay, and helping out Mr. Kidswatter when he gets his head stuck in the window. Not only that, but the pay wasn't exactly the best, either.

So there Louis was, mopping up some trash some kids left behind on the 23rd floor. He had to work overtime because he needed the extra income if he was ever going to pay his rent. He had his pale grey SkullSkeleton™ headphones on, and he was listening to all the latest 80s-eletronica-music on full blast. It keeps him going during the long day.

 _"Doo doo doo, flu tune room. Soon, flute boot snoot. What a hoot!"_ Louis sang, wiggling his finger in time to the song. He dipped his mop in the water bucket that he had beside him and continued to mop up all the dirty garbage. He was trying to get his work done fast because he has a tiny fear of the dark. The only way he could see what he was doing was the blue light coming from the windows.

Louis eventually finished up his mopping and gazed outside the large glass window on his left. The night was gorgeous! The stars looked amazing, so did the constellations, the hills off in the distance, and a full moon was out. Not to mention it was lightly raining too. It was, like, the most perfectest thing evar. Louis got back to his work.

Louis began with his next task, dusting the trophies. He got out his special key he he's in his pocket and opened the trophy case next to him. _"Man, it's such a shame I have to work on such an amazing night like this."_ he muttered, pulling out his rag. But then, all of a sudden, something strange happened...

 _"Auuughhh! Somebody help me. I need... water... I'm never doing that again..."_ Louis heard a voice! But... how? He was the only one who's at Wayside that late at night! Or at least, so he thought. Louis instinctively got out his mop and held it like a sword. He started shivering, and his eyes were wide open in fear. But at least he was ready to take down whatever it was.

"Heeyyy, dudesss. I-I-I don't w-w-want to cause any t-trouble... but if you're some kind of g-ghost or somethin'... I'm gonna have to ask you to l-l-leave!" Louis called out, stammering and walking forwards slowly. He saw a shadowy figure crawl towards him and he screamed! He really was scared! But then something happened...

It turns out the shadowy figure was actually just Todd. Of course, Louis didn't know this and was freaked out. Louis's scream made Todd scream! And then that made Louis just scream some more! At this point Louis was beyond terrified, and he tried to run away, when...

"Augh... Louis...? Is that you? It's me, Todd. I need your help." Todd said, crawling out of the shadows and into the dark blue light canvassed by the sky. Louis was relieved. "Todd? What are you doing here so late? As far as I know, you aren't supposed to be here. Mrs. Jewels doesn't have tutoring today." Todd pulled himself up, which was an achievement considering how sweaty and tried he was.

"Well, I could say the same about you, Louis! Why are you here?!" Todd asked rather snarky, gasping for air. Louis had to think for a moment, but he remembered why he was there and told Todd. "Alright, I told you my reason. Now it's your turn, dude." Louis said afterward. Todd didn't want to tell him that everyone was having a party at Wayside! But what other choice did he have? Running away?

Todd sighed and stared down at his feet before finally saying, "I'm sorry Louis. I just have to say it. All of us Wayside students are... kind of..." Louis was obviously confused. "We are all having a party here tonight. I guess Maurecia just wanted everyone to have a good time since Valentines Day is coming soon, and it's also the weekend... so there you go. I'm really sorry Louis. I can call it all off if you want."

Louis was shocked. But at the same time, he was happy to hear Todd tell the truth. "Wow... you dudes are really doing all that?!. That is so..." Louis replied, looking out the front window and seeing D. J. and Shari. Todd closed his eyes, expecting Louis to punish him in some way. What if he told Mrs. Jewels? Then she would lower his grades! Not just his, but everyone's! Or worse... what if Louis forced him to _comb his hair for the next three weeks?!_

"Amazing!" Louis finished, with a bright smile on his face. Todd looked up at him, confused. "It's so cool how you all just did everything! I mean, you guys thought up everything and got it done! I probably couldn't do that if I tried. Imagine what you dudes will do when you grow up!" All poor old Todd could imagine is Maurecia punching him in the arm. That's one thing that he knows will happen in the future.

Todd continued. "So, does that mean that we can keep doing this? Is that okay?" Louis was looking at the sky. He was distracted and didn't hear Todd, that's how beautiful it was. Louis shook his head and stopped zoning out. "Oh, uh... yeah! Why not? You guys should get to do something special every once in a while. But, promise me this," Louis answered.

Todd looked up at Louis. He kneeled down and put his hands on Todd's shoulders. "Promise me that you absolutely, positively **WON'T** tell Mr. Kidswatter that I let you guys do this, he would probably fire me! Promise?" Todd didn't even need to think about it. Everyone has broken the rules at least once. And that's okay. It's what makes us human. "You can count on me!" Todd said.

Louis stood up excitedly. "Thanks Todd! I always know I can count on you. Now if you excuse me, I have some cleaning up to do. 'Kay?" "Yep." Todd continued his long, perilous journey to the 30th floor. He went up the floors. 24th. 25th. And so on. He barely had the energy to make it up there.

Eventually there Todd was... the 30th story of Wayside! He was glad that he finally made it. Even if he was sweatier than an uncle on a Tuesday. Todd walked along until he was in front of the door to his classroom. Todd sighed and looked down. He could hear kids giggling inside, Myron, Dana, a few others and... Maurecia.

 _"Here goes nothing. I hope."_ Todd thought as his hand twisted the knob. The door swung open at a moderate speed with a loud **CREEEK!** The scene inside the classroom became visible to Todd's eyes... _and he could not believe what he saw!_

Almost everyone in Mrs. Jewels class was inside the room! Even Dana, Myron, and Maurecia were there. Jenny, Joy, Joe and John were all in a group at the back of the room, their desks all next to each other. D. J., Dana, Deedee, and Dameon were discussing what lunch meals give the most nutrients to the students of Wayside using the chalk board in the front of the class.

Maurecia and Myron were drawing pictures on bean bags, causal. Myron was drawing a picture of himself as president while Maurecia was drawing a picture of her and Todd kissing. You could see Maurecia's smile from anywhere in the room! Of course, she couldn't let Todd see it. Who knows how many of _those_ pictures she has drawn when he's not around!

The room was also decorated so nicely. And it was all decorated by Maurecia (or, at least Todd guessed judging by the ice cream machine and the Wheels Extreme! 2: Wheels Vs. Extreme posters)! Who knew she could do all that? Certainly not Todd!

Everyone looked at Todd in surprise! They didn't think he was going to be there. They all had looks of surprise on their faces. Well, everyone except Maurecia. She had goo-goo eyes, as per usual whenever she sees Todd. He's totally not bothered by that, either.

 **"Todd!"** Maurecia said, her excitement noticeable to everyone. She raced towards Todd, lovesick and not thinking clearly. She stopped right in front of him, their faces only inches apart. Todd leaned back a little too make sure they weren't too close.

"I'm so glad you're here, Todd! Everyone is! You're just in time!" Maurecia giggled, as happy and in love as she could be. Seriously, she had cartoon hearts in her eyes. That's a clear sign that she is in love. That's been happening to her ever since she met Todd.

Then, of course, she gave Todd a **big hug!** She unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Todd and put her head on his left shoulder. He didn't want to seem rude or anything, so he just hugged back. Boy, was this awkward for Todd.

Everyone saw this and were reacting differently. Some of the students were just whispering to each other (such as Joy and Calvin) while others were cheering them on (like Myron and Dana) and others didn't care (like Bebe). Todd was just surprised she did that. Usually she just punches him.

When they were done about 5 seconds later (though it certainly didn't _feel_ like 5 seconds!) Maurecia took hers arms off of Todd's body. They were both blushing! Even though Todd didn't know exactly why. Maurecia's stomach was full of butterflies!

"Wow, you two should get a room if you're going to do stuff like that!" Calvin shouted from the back of the room, in his desk. Nearly everyone started laughing. Even D. J. was smiling his beautiful smile, with all his front teeth. He's so cool!

Todd was obviously embarrassed. He sweated a little and said trying to change the subject, "Okay you guys. That's enough. So, what are you all doing?" Maurecia roller skated back to her desk and answered, "Ummmm... heh heh, I was just working on a drawing about Wheels Extreme action figures!"

She hid her actual drawings about TxM by placing them under her bean bag. "I was making a picture of why you should all vote for me! Also," Myron announced, adjusting his glasses. "Vote for me!" The whole class had that drilled into their heads so much by now, that at this point no one dared to run against him.

Dana decided to answer next because she's the last main character. "Well you see Todd, I just so happen to have this calculator with me," She took out her calculator from the pocket of her shorts.

"I'm trying to figure out the costs of everything. Oh, and if we can order pizza for later. Maybe we can do some _prank calls!_ Wouldn't that be great? _*awkward giggle*_ ENOUGH WITH THE FUN!" She scratched one of her mosquito bites and stopped talking. "Okay, what is everyone else doing?" Todd asked

Nearly everyone in the room answered. Bebe Gunn was drawing pictures. Jenny was fixing her motorcycle. And so on. Eventually everyone started talking to each other and they got very caught up in it! So, Todd just went with his main friends.

Todd walked over to Mrs. Jewels's desk, where Maurecia, Myron and Dana were. They had moved Mrs. Jewels's chair and file cabinet to the back of the room so they could make room for their bean bags. Of course, one of the three Erics will put it back once the party is over. That's why Maurecia hired them, after all.

"Wow, I cannot tell you how so cool this is guys! This is so cool, I don't even have the words to say it!" Todd exclaimed, his eyes full of wonder and amazement. None of them were really listening though. Myron looked up from his drawing. "Uh huh that's really cool Todd. Make sure you vote for me!" Dana just kept pacing.

Todd sighed. "Is anyone even paying attention to me anymore?" "I heard everything you said, Todd! Thank you! You're so nice. It took me so long to do all this." Maurecia responded, slightly blushing. At least Todd knew he could count on Maurecia to listen to him. He wasn't so sure if he liked Maurecia complimenting him though.

Todd shifted his attention to Myron and looked over his shoulder. "So Myron, how is that drawing going? Do you think it will convince everyone to-" Myron covered it up and huffed, "I'm sorry Todd, but I'm afraid you can't see it." "What? Why?" Todd asked. Myron let out a sigh.

He hit the button on a tiny remote next to him, causing it to display even more assorted neon lights. "If I show you what I'm drawing you'll know that secret to how I win!" Todd made a face. "Well, _what is it?_ " "My handsomeness of course! You can clearly see it in the drawing! **Darn it!** I just told you! Just forget I said anything."

Todd also decided he might as well talk to Dana too. "What's up?" Todd asked Dana, who was to the left of Myron. "Todd! Do you happen to have any knowledge of sufficient establishments that specialize in the creation of pizza?" Todd scratched his head.

Dana rolled her eyes. "In simpler terms, do you know where good pizza places around here?" Todd had to think for a moment. "Well, the only thing I can think of is Joey's Pizza Palace, but it's by my house over on South Fair View. What are you going to do?" Dana scrunched up her face suspiciously. "Oh, you'll see, Todd. _You'll see._ "

* * *

Todd noticed there was a liquid jug near the back of the classroom with some styrofoam cups. He was thirsty and getting annoyed by the loud pop music, so he figured he might as well get something. After all, what did he have to lose?

Todd walked over to it. The jug seemed very peculiar... it was filled with a red liquid, similar to punch you see at standard parties. Todd grabbed a styrofoam cup and pressed the tab on the jug, filling it with the juice.

He took a sip, but he wish he didn't. The drink tasted horrible and Todd spit it out immediately. Maurecia quickly roller-skated over to Todd on cue. "Is everything okay Todd?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes.

Todd coughed, then answered with, "Yea, what is this?" He showed her his cup. Maurecia facepalmed and giggled, "Oh! Heh heh, earlier we played a hilarious prank on D. J.! We switched out the water in the jug with tomato juice and water! He did not expect that!" Todd sighed and poured his drink out the window.

 _"Why does everything have to be so... wacky around here? Sometimes I miss my old school..."_ he thought. He walked over to Bebe and Calvin, who were at their desks as usual. They were both working on drawings, rather slowly. Bebe was drawing a picture of a cat and Calvin was helping with the art supplies. The usual.

"Hey guys! So glad that you're here! How are you?" Todd asked, peering at their artwork. "I'm great! Let me say, I've never had this much fun in a long time," Bebe said cheerfully. "The music is amazing, the people here are nice, there's lots of delicious food, and there's even places for me to draw at! Wonderful!" Todd was glad.

"Eh, I guess this place is alright. At least there aren't any teachers nagging me to go to nonexistent places." Calvin mumbled. He obviously wasn't as impressed, but still there because he had nothing better to do. Todd was just happy he was there.

Little did all the students know, their party was soon to be interrupted...

* * *

On the opposite side of South Fair View was a tiny purple home. It had a car in front of it, a garage, a small backyard, and only 3 rooms. The address of this home was 122 South Fair View. Now, why am I telling you this? Don't worry, I'll get to it.

Inside the house laid many sleek, wooden floors. On the walls connected to them were many pictures of family and friends, as well as many fine china hung up with push-pins. There were also many cabinets filled with Chia Pets®. Just like any normal home.

The house was dead silent, but only for a few minutes. Piercing the silence was the sound of a man snoring rather loudly coming from one of the rooms. And who was this snoring coming from exactly? Well, it was none other than **Mr. Kidswatter!**

The grumpy, mustachioed man had been sleeping his troubles away after a long day of doing nothing. He even still had his work clothes on, and there was a puddle of drool next to him. "Zzzz... peanuts... 344 South Fair View..." he mumbled in his sleep. **"LOUIS!"** He startled awake, and hyperventilated. He had a bad dream.

"Hmmm... I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and fast," he said to himself while looking out the window. "I'm so tired of all these dreams, waking me up in the middle of my hibernation! Maybe Louis can help." So it was decided. Mr. Kidswatter was going see Louis about his night terrors.

But, of course, he still had to get ready. Even though it was around **10** at night. He sighed and went into his closet, where he keeps all his clothes. He pulled out... the same principal pants he had on, and slipped them on, even though he already had his work clothes on. He was seriously tired.

 _"Hmmm, I wonder how Louis and Mrs. Jewels are doing,"_ he thought to himself while driving down the long, dark road. _"Mental note: fire them the faculty will have enough money for... uh..."_ He looked at the solar-powered hula girl in front of him. _"... a Hawaiian barbecue."_ South Fair View looked very beautiful at night.

In five minutes, he was there. He got out of his chair and stood in shock. "What on Earth is this? What are all these lights?!" He speed-walked over to the doors. D. J. and Shari weren't there because they were inside enjoying the party, leaving the doors unattended. Mr. Kidswatter pulled on them but to his surprise, they were locked.

 _"Louis better not be having another one of those crazy parties."_

Meanwhile, everyone was still in Mrs. Jewels's room, living it up and raising the roof. Maurecia roller-skated over on top of Mrs. Jewels's desk. "Alright, alright alright. Listen up!" But no one did. Which is weird, considering she could beat up anyone in the room, and she was the hostess.

Todd was the only one who saw this. He reached into the filing cabinet and pulled out a microphone. "Thanks, Todd!" Maurecia said as Todd handed her it. She tapped on it a few times to make sure it was working right and cleared her throat before speaking.

 **"Okay, listen up!"** she yelled, unintentionally loudly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her. The pop music even stopped. "Yea, so I have a little announcement," she continued, to everyone's curiosity.

"Right now it is 10:23 P. M. At 10:30 we are going to have D. J. up here with some comedy for around 30 minutes. Then afterwards we'll all play some party games! So, be prepared!" Everyone in Mrs. Jewels's class cheered. Except for Kathy. She wasn't excited at all. "Why did I even come? This is boring." She grumbled.

Everyone continued having fun, as usual. They were all listening to music by DJ Peaceful. Everything was going great, and it felt like nothing could stop them! They were the kings of the world! Or, at least, in that moment...

While Maurecia was saying all this, Dana was near the big window overlooking the outside of Wayside, its playground and all. There was still a lone yellow ball out there. Some of Sammy's rat friends who weren't dead were knowing on it.

Dana stopped pacing for a brief moment and looked out the window. "What is that out there?" she gasped. She couldn't believe her eyes! Outside the door was... _Mr. Kidswatter?! How?!_ "Oh no... this can't be good," she said to herself as she watched him pick his nose. "I have to tell everybody else!"

Dana ran up to the front of the room, superworried about what was gonna happen. "Todd! Maurecia! You have to come over here! Quick!" Dana shouted, interrupting their conversation. "What? What happened?" They asked her at the same time, then looked at each other strangely. Dana grabbed their hands and lead them to the window.

"Look! I think that's Mr. Kidswatter!" Dana exclaimed as she pointed at him. Todd and Maurecia gasped! "What the heck? What is he doing here?" Maurecia asked. "Oh man, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do?!" Todd panicked, holding his head with his hands.

Suddenly, Louis barged into the room. **"HEY, DUDES!"** he shouted. Everyone once again stopped what they were doing. "What is it Louis, can't you see we're busy?" Kathy said, matter-of-factly.

"If you all haven't seen already, Mr. Kidswatter is here!" The whole class gasped. "Louis! Do you have anything to do with this?" Calvin asked. "I don't! Seriously, I don't! I don't know why he's here," Louis replied. "But what I do know is we have to find a way to hide from him! I can't afford to lose this job! Any ideas?"

Everyone looked up, trying to think. "Ooh! I have an idea!" Myron cheered, raising his hand. "Okay dude! What is it?" Louis asked. "How about we all vote for me!" Myron was thrown outside onto the trampoline promptly. "Okay, any _other_ ideas?"

All the students had such great ideas! Deedee suggested they throw a kickball at him. Allison said they should do absolutely nothing. Shari suggested that they sleep. But of course, she snore-said that. Everyone just kept on talking! And they wouldn't stop!

Dana noticed that Mr. Kidswatter was now unlocking the front door, stressing her even more. "Guys, I think it's best we think of something fast!" Dana said, a worried tone in her voice. **"Guys! Please be quiet!"** Todd yelled over everyone, making them stop once again. Everyone looked at him. "Thank you."

"Okay, I have an idea. How about we all just hide?!" Louis said. Everyone cheered. "Yea! It'll be like a big game of hide-and-seek!" John said, reading a book upside down. "Yea... I guess so. Now, let's go dudes!" Louis replied.

Again all the children cheered. While that was going on Mr. Kidswatter was struggling to remember how to activate the elevator. "Hmmm... I'm probably gonna have to ask Louis about this," he sighed, ruffling his mustache and staring at the big logo on the floor. "Might as well go find him."

He walked over to the stairs and sighed again. "I hate these stairs. Well, I guess I can use the workout!" Mr. Kidswatter dropped down to the floor and did 10 push-ups. In a matter of milliseconds, there was sweat dripping down from his forehead.

"Gotta... phewf... get myself prepared... jeez... if I wanna... **huff** climbs these stairs!" he huffed, gasping for air. He did four more push-ups and he got up. _"Here we gooo!"_ he exclaimed, and he was off! _Literally!_ He ran up the 30 flights in a little over 3 seconds at a speed that would make a car look like a snail! And he still had energy left over.

Now that the mustachioed man was on the thirtieth floor, he could focus on what he needed to do. _"Let's see, Louis should be cleaning somewhere here..."_ he thought as he lurked down the hallways, using flashlight that he had in his pocket and eating a triple strawberry biscuit (that was _also_ in his pocket).

 _"Quick! Everyone hide! Seriously!"_ Louis whisper-called out, trying his best not to make a lot of noise, while everyone else in the class was. It was a _madhouse_ in there! Everyone was running and scrambling around for a place to not be seen.

"I have the perfect idea!" Maurecia said to herself while the three Erics were trying to get around her. She took her helmet off and jumped inside of it, so now there was just a _seemingly empty helmet_ on the floor.

Eric Bacon wasn't looking where he was going and accidentally tripped over Maurecia's helmet. "Ow... I hate when people leave their headgear on the floor!" he grumbled and kicked it to the corner of the room. But Maurecia didn't feel anything.

All John did for a few minutes was run around with his arms flailing at his sides. **"AAAAAHAHAH! SOMEBODY HELP MeEeEeE!"** he yelled at the top of his lungs. But of course no one heard him over everyone else yelling. Eventually he bumped into the file cabinet with a loud bang.

"That's it! I'll just hide inside this thing," John said to himself. "I mean, what could possibly happen?" He opened it up only to find... Jenny, Shari, Joe and other students already crammed inside like pieces of paper. "Hi. Sorry, but this cabinet is full." Joe said. John slammed it shut and ran off screaming again.

Luckily, Todd had planned ahead for this. He picked out a special place for him to be if he needed to hide on the 23rd day of school. When you're at Wayside, you always need to be one step ahead of the silliness or you won't keep up! Unless you're already silly.

Todd went near the back of the room and looked up at the ceiling. There it was: the air vent. Todd knew for sure that this vent lead to all the classrooms in Wayside, and only he knew about it. No one else. Not even Dana!

Suddenly, John ran into a wall and fell to the floor by Todd. "Hey John," Todd said over the ruckus. John looked up. "Would you mind giving me a boost up into that vent right there?" John didn't have anything else to do, so he responded with, "Sure."

He let Todd stand on his hands, then he raised them up so he could reach it. Todd loosened the bolts in a matter of seconds and he was inside. "Thank you! Would you like to be in here too? It's very comfy and safe in here." John tapped his chin. "OK."

He ran and got Louis to help him up and the duo were finally safe and sound from being expelled. Sadly, not everyone had a master plan like Todd. Ironic, considering that he was least weirdest person in the class, yet had the best spot.

"So, how have you been?" John asked, laying down with his hands on his lap. "Good. I guess. Yea." Todd responded, his legs criss-cross applesauce. "Have you heard? There's gonna be that Valentines Dance in 6 days. You gonna go?"

"Yea, Joy told me about it. I'm not really interested in those type of things, so I doubt I'm gonna go." Before John could say something back, they heard Maurecia yell, "Good job guys!" He sat up. "Maurecia really has a thing for you, doesn't she?"

Todd sighed. He really didn't want to talk about her at the moment. He had enough stuff to worry about. Like if his favorite cereal brand is going to get discontinued. And if _Wayside_ was going to get renewed for another season. "Yea, she always has, and I have absolutely no idea why," He shrugged.

"For whatever reason she punches any guy she likes. And you know what that means for me? A bruised shoulder and a bunch of visits to the doctor! (sigh)" John was staring into space the whole time. _"Were you even liste-"_ "Of course I was. I always do," John sneered.

"If I were you, I'd actually be grateful. I mean sure, getting slugged in the arm everyday isn't good. But think about it! Maurecia has a crush on you. She probably thinks of you when she's feeling sad.

"She probably tries her best to work up the courage to talk to you everyday! There's so much that she does that you don't even notice! She can't help it. It's love. And is love a bad thing?" he concluded, looking out the vent at Maurecia's helmet.

Todd sighed, as he didn't really like talking about his feelings. "I guess it's not. I don't know. It's just that-" Suddenly, Mr. Kidswatter barged into the door. "Shhhh!" John whispered as the whole room went silent. The two looked out the vent.

Every student in the whole school was hiding, thanks to Dana figuring out how to use the intercom to tell everyone what to do. Louis started to mop the floors as Kidswatter came in. " _Oh!_ Mr. K! What a surprise to see you here this late at night," Louis said, pretending to be surprised. "Do you need me to do something?"

"Yea, I guess you can say that," Mr. Kidswatter responded, narrowing his eyes. He thought something was up, so he was observing the classroom carefully, making sure nothing was out of place. "Why do you ask? _I'm not going to pay you extra if you have a smile on your face._ "

"Oh, you know, I'm just trying to be nice. You know." Louis answered, sweating a little. No one knew Wayside better than Kidswatter himself. Louis was worried that he would find something out of place and figure out what was going on. Mr. Kidswatter un-narrowed his eyes and spoke, "Good to know I can count on you to do stuff." Louis sighed in relief and continued mopping the dirty floor.

"Anyways, the reason I am here is because I've been having these odd dreams. How about we go to my office and I'll tell you about it?" _"Sounds great!"_ Louis agreed immediately after. They went out of the room. Half a minute of silence followed.

 _"Is it safe to come out now?"_ John whisper-shouted to Todd, breaking the silence. "Yea." Todd said, loud enough for everyone to hear. They busted out of the vent. "The coast is clear guys! You can come out!" Todd called out to everyone hiding. Everyone immediately got out from their places and talked.

Jenny, Joe and a lot of other kids got out of the file cabinet. "Ouch, my back hurts! Maybe being in their wasn't such a good idea..." Jenny complained as she got out of the file cabinet. "Anyone have any food?" Joy asked, dumbfounded. Shari fell asleep in the file cabinet, so she wasn't coming out anytime soon.

John thanked Todd again and went to talk to Joy. Maurecia got out of her helmet and roller-skated over to Todd. "Thanks for your help!" she said, and punched him in the arm. _"You're... welcome..."_ he said with a weak voice, clutching his arm in pain. Well, at least she didn't hit him across the room this time.

* * *

"So, uh, you said you were having _strange dreams,_ Mr. K?" Louis asked, and took a sip from his water bottle. "Yea, it has been happening a lot recently, my clown physician has told me it's due to stress. What do you think I should do about it?"

"Well, I'm no physician, and I'm _definitely_ not a clown physician, but I personally think it just has to do with stress," Louis explained. "You've been working as principal at this school for as long as I can remember! You could probably call all these kids by name, or, at least, their address.

"I just feel that if you could take a couple of days off every now and then, you'd feel better than when you first started working here!" Kidswatter was just staring into space the whole time. He shook his head like a dog trying to get dry and exclaimed, "I know! I'll just take a break from my principal duties every now and the and I'll be fine! I'm a genius. Thanks for your help Louis." Louis rolled his eyes.

Kidswatter said his goodbyes and went back home. The moment he was out the door, Louis reached into his hat and pulled out... _his secret walkie-talkie!_ " Chhh, this is, um... 'Cool Dude', speaking. Cool Dude to Purple Sparrow, over." he spoke.

Maurecia immediately received the message. "Chhh, I hear you loud and clear Cool Dude. What's the situation? Over." Louis got the message, and instead of responding via the walkie talkie, he went over to the school intercom. He pressed the small button and shouted, "Attention everyone! Mr. Kidswatter has left the building! It is safe to do whatever! I repeat, _Mr. Kidswatter has left the building!_ Thank you."

The whole class cheered, it was a huge victory for Maurecia and the rest of the party planners! "Hooray! Now we can finally do the activities!" Todd exclaimed to Myron, Dana and Maurecia. "And we have just enough time to do that and for me to study!" Dana replied. Myron was sleeping on a beanbag.

 **"Let the games begin!"** Maurecia announced.

 **Well, that's it for this chapter! Sorry if it seems kinda like filler, but believe me, the events in this chapter will have a role later on in the story. Also sorry if I haven't updated this in a while, it's just high school is back so I won't be able to update as often. But! At least that means the new chapters will be higher quality, so always keep an eye out! Until then, peace.**


	7. Close Your Eyes

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand. Don't worry. I won't judge. Why would I? This is a fanfiction after all. We are free to do whatever we want! (almost) ;) Always remember: no one can judge you when you're reading fanfiction.

Here it goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Close Your Eyes

Now that Mr. Kidswatter was gone, Todd, Maurecia, Myron, Dana, and the rest of the party planners could go through with their original plans for the evening. And boy, did they have a lot of fun games and more planned! But, before I could tell you that story, I need to tell you _this_ story...

At the beginning of the year, a secret council of Wayside students came together with one big goal in mind: they were going to make sure this school year had the biggest, and bestest parties ever! So, to accomplish this, they set some ground rules that they all follow:

 _1\. The party MUST be on a Friday or Saturday night because it's not a "school night"._

 _2\. Every party planners' role should be decided a month in advance!_

 _3\. The party MUST be filled with fun activities that should last until, or past midnight._

These laws were posted on a clean piece of paper on the front door of the council's lounge, or as most people called it, the cafeteria. The council met there every Wednesday after school, at around 2:30 to discuss projects. The council consists of five kids: Maurecia, head leader, D. J., the assistant/secretary, Stephen, the art director, and Terrence, the scheduler.

When they have their meetings, they usually just talk, draw out sketches, work on posters, and eat yummy snacks, provided by D. J. They usually talk about what parties they can throw and when, as well as sketch out posters to let people know what's happening. That's it.

Anywho, let's get back to the story, shall we?

After everyone's initial huzzah, they got back to the task at hand: having even _more_ fun! While everyone was talking and doing other things, Todd was tying his shoes at his desk. Maurecia noticed him and immediately skated over.

"Todd! I'm so glad that we can still do everything! Maybe this party was a good idea after all!" Maurecia cheered, excited as ever. Todd gazed up at the sky and said, "Yea, that's cool. But what is it we're going to do exactly?" Maurecia giggled, and said, "Oh, you'll see, Todd. _You'll see..._ "

During all that, Dana and Myron were having their own little conversation. Myron was flopped over on his beanbag, and Dana was still pacing and doing calculations, she was trying to figure out how much everything would cost, so she tried her best to concentrate. But then, Myron being Myron, he groaned rather loudly. And louder. Until it became unbearable for Dana. She put her calculator in her backpack and turned towards him.

"What is it, Myron?" she sighed, facepalming. "What? Why'd you stop doing your fancy homework? Don't worry about me, there's nothing wrong," he sneered. "I mean, it's not like I'm BORED or anything." Dana sighed. She did not want to put up with that at that moment. "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know, just find something. The class president can't be treated like this! He should have his own special room with gizmos so he won't _ever_ get bored, and food fit for a king! Why don't I have that?" Myron complained, like a baby throwing a tantrum. Poor Myron, no matter what he received, he always wanted more.

Dana ignored him, before finally saying, "Well Myron, why not just try being grateful for what you have? After all, it could be worse! I mean, you are the class president, after all! Not many people can say that! You're very lucky, Myron. Very."

"I guess you're right," Myron responded, feeling kind of down for not realizing all the great things he has. "But, at the same time..." Dana had a feeling she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. **"I still have nothing to do!"** he yelled in Dana's face, holding on to her shoulders and shaking her a little.

He let go of her. "I'm sorry Myron, but that's for you to figure out. Not me. Now, if you'd excuse me, I have some things to take care of. Namely, seeing if there's enough money in the budget to get one liter sodas with the pizza. Bye." She walked out the door.

* * *

Maurecia stood on top of Mrs. Jewels's desk, like dhe always does when he wants to get everyone's attention. "Hey guys!" she said, but of course, no one heard her. D. J. reached into the file cabinet, dug around a little, and found a megaphone. "Thanks, D. J."

She pressed the red button on it and softly said, "Testing... cinnamon buns..." Yup. It worked. Everyone acknowledged her and stopped talking. "Thank you. Okay, so, now that it's 10:45 P. M. yea, sorry about the delay, we can finally start our games!" Everyone cheered! Well, everyone except for Kathy.

"So, the first thing we have today is... drumroll please..." Almost everyone started patting their knees or drumming on the desk to _emulate the sound of a drumroll._ Well, what else would they do?

"D. J. and his stand-up-comedy act thingy!" The whole class cheered once more, and D. J. grabbed his suitcase from the back of the room, which no one even noticed was there, and ran up to Mrs. Jewels's desk. To everyone's surprise, there was a full set of red curtains in there! He set them up and made a small stage for him to perform at. Everyone was so excited! But of course, no one was more excited than him.

Out of his suitcase also came a microphone, a stool, a water bottle, and a big sign of colorful lights that read, _"D. J. performing... tonight!"_ on it. He hung it up over the curtains. After that he set up his mic and drank some water. Suddenly, the lights in the room all turned off, except for, well, the lights above D. J.

"Hey hey hey, peoples! So glad that you're all here to witness the amazing, comedic, and totally unique power of... drum roll please..." he announced in a funny voice that made a few kids laugh. He did a little dance, a combination of the "chicken dance" and the "robot", the "Frankenstein" as he called it, and snapped his fingers. Immediately everyone stopped. **"Doctor Jolly!"** he continued. Everyone clapped!

When Todd clapped, he looked down at his hands and noticed he had gone from standing up to sitting at a fancy dining table, complete with a rose and a small candle. "How did-?" Todd asked before being interrupted. He looked around him and saw Maurecia with a wide grin on her face.

Doctor Jolly continued with his act, now in his new persona. "What's up what's up what's up, everyone? Doctor Jolly here with some jokes and such that are sure to tickle your funny bone! Now, before anything, who likes pasta?" Nearly everyone raised their hand.

Doctor Jolly spread an even wider grin on his face and chuckled a little before continuing with, "Wow! You guys raised your hands _pasta_ than a speeding bullet!" All the kids laughed and cheered, expect for the uncultured people.

Todd wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Man, this guy's a riot!" But his laughter quickly faded. He looked behind him and noticed Maurecia wasn't at her table. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, Maurecia crawled out from under the table and into the chair across from Todd.

"Hiya Todd! Enjoying the show so far?" she asked casually, as if she didn't just startle Todd. Joy was sitting the table next to them. _"Ssshhhhh!"_ she whispered at Todd, despite him not being the one who talked. Maybe she was just messing with him again. Maurecia also shushed Todd.

"Yep! Hehehe! I guess you all can say that joke was pretty... _punny!_ " he continued, trying his best to not burst out in laughter. All the students were having such a good time! Just being able to relax with some sophisticated comedy and all your friends might just be one of the best things in the world!

"Yea, the other day I was just walking home from school, you see," Doctor Jolly said, changing the subject. "And then I suddenly came across a skunk! So, what did I do, you guys ask me? Well, I made it stop smelling. _By plugging its nose!_ "

At the end of his laugh, Todd started to cough a little, so, of course, Maurecia patted his back. "Thanks." he mumbled after, trying his best not to burst out in laughter again. "You're welcome. Wow, I can't believe how great this is going! This could possibly be our best party EVER!" Maurecia replied, stars in her eyes.

"Yea, who knows?" Todd replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. Now that Doctor Jolly was finished with his puns, he started with his next act. "Okay! Now that those puns are out of the way, I'm going to need a few people for this next skit! _Do_ _we have any volunteers?_ "

A few raised their hands. "Okay! I'll take you, you, you..." Doctor Jolly said as he pointed at John, Calvin and Rondi. They ran up onto his stage immediately, excited as ever. "Perfect! I thank you for your help."

Rondi and John smiled at him and the audience. Calvin had a question, so he raised his hand, even though he didn't need to. It's instinct at this point. "Yes?" "Ummm, I was just wondering, if this was going to hurt, or involve excessive breathing? I need to make sure I don't lose too much air in my system..." Calvin asked, a little embarrassed. Doctor Jolly chuckled and patted his back.

"Don't worry! This won't have anything to do with that." Calvin was worried. He had never volunteered before. The only thing he really knew how to do was fetch art supplies.

"Okay, so, Calvin! I need you to reach into my briefcase over there and pull _it_ out." Calvin gave him a confused look. "I'm sorry, but pull _what_ out?" "Oh, you'll see... heheh. Go ahead and reach into there."

Out came... "Ta-da!" D. J. said. Calvin pulled out a puppet of D. J. It was handmade and everything. And it looked pretty realistic and cartoon-ish at the same time, with its polished black hair and grin that could light up the whole room.

"Woah. That's very cool! It looks just like you!" Rondi exclaimed, tipping her hat she didn't have. "Thanks," Doctor Jolly replied as he put the puppet on his hand. The class was ecstatic to see what was going to happen. "Now, Rondi, I need you to hand me that glass of lemonade that you're holding, please."

"What glass of-" she asked before realizing she really was holding a glass of lemonade! He held out his hand and she handed him it. "Thanks. Now, John, look under there." John gave him a sour look.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking. You think I'm gonna ask a certain question that sounds like a _particularly comical article of clothing_ so you can laugh at me. Well, I ain't doin' it!" Jolly looked a little perplexed. "No no no! Look!" He pointed at a slip of paper that had the word "THERE" written on it with sloppy handwriting by John's feet.

John scratched his head and mumbled, "Oh. Didn't see that there." He picked up the paper and underneath it was a smaller paper that had scribbles and Japanese characters on it. "You need this?" John handed it to him.

"Okay! Thank you, my wonderful volunteers! Now the act can commence! Applause!" The whole class did exactly that. Then he made "Little Deej" talk. "Yes! Hello everyone! I am Little Deej, the world's funniest puppet, haha! And boy, do I have a show for you guys tonight!" Doctor Jolly- I mean- Little Deej said in his high-pitched, scrawny little voice. Doctor Jolly tried his best to not let his mouth be seen.

A few people chuckled, but everyone was mostly just wondering what Little Deej was going to do. Rondi squealed, she always loved ventriloquism! "Firstly, I'm going to tell a few more jokes, and then, we'll get to the really good stuff!"

"Okay, here it goes," Little Deej began, before clearing his throat. "A few of you might've already heard this one, but anywho, _what has four wheels and flies?!_ " A few people didn't get it. Then he answered with, " _A garbage truck!_ " Nearly everyone burst out into laughter, some even holding their stomachs, it was so funny!

"Thank you! Thank you! You guys are what keep me smiling and keep my career alive! Okay," Little Deej announced in pure happiness. " _Have any of you ever tried to eat a clock?!_ " A few kids raised their hands. But of course, Little Deej wasn't expecting that. "Well, I bet it must've been very _time-consuming!_ "

The crowd went wild! And even better, Todd and Maurecia were actually laughing together! They were getting along without hassle or someone being slugged in the arm. "Hahaha, that one was the best!" Todd laughed, wiping the tears from his eyes with his napkin. Meanwhile, in Maurecia's mind...

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe how everything is going! This is awesome!" Maurecia thought as she was laughing. I mean, this is just the first thing everyone was going to do, and if it's already going great, then think of how the rest of the night will go!

"Thank you! I'm so glad you all are enjoying it so far! Now I'll do impressions," Little Deej announced, to a thunderous applause. "How about I start off with doing impressions of our three lovely volunteers! How does that sound?!" Half the kids cheered, the other half didn't.

"Okay! I think we have a unanimous decision here! So, in that case, how about we start off with... hmmm.." Calvin and John started sweating a little. They didn't want to be made fun of in any way, shape or form! Rondi, on the other hand, was just excited to be there and didn't really care.

"How about we start off with Calvin!" The class applauded, and Calvin laughed nervously as Doctor Jolly prepared himself by gargling some water. Then he cleared his throat for a bit, did the same with the puppet, and began.

"Hey there everyone! My name is Calvin, and boy, do I have a lot to tell you about how my life and everything is going so far! I like to do a lot of different things in my free time. But, of course, my most favorite thing to do is help Bebe with her art supplies. I'm very good at it, and it's helping out a friend at the same time! Awesome!" Little Deej said in his best imitation of Calvin.

Calvin was impressed! And that doesn't happen often. So that must mean that Little Deej is **very** skilled! He chuckled a little and said, "Heh heh. That was actually very well done! Great job, D.J.- I mean- Little Deej!" "Why, thank you," Little Deej responded and did a little bow. "All of this positive feedback is awesome!"

"Since that first impression was so well received, how about anotthherrr!" Techno-electronica music played and two smoke machines went off at the same time the thunderous applause did. Everyone was being so nice to one another, it was amazing!

"Alright, so, how about for this next impression, I do..." The anticipation was too much for everyone to handle! "My other lovely assistant, John!" A spotlight that appeared out of nowhere shown on him. John was a little embarrassed.

"Say, John! How is your day going so far?" Little Deej asked him and held a microphone up to his face, everyone staring at him. _"Ummm... g-g-good, um... I guess?"_ stammered. L. D. cleared his throat and replied in John's voice!

"Fantastic! It's so great to know that everything is so great, y'know? Anyways, I don't believe we've met. My name is John. The only way I can read is upside down, so often times I like to just tilt my head so I can read the board correctly and everything. But, of course, this isn't my fault, so I guess everyone's just gonna have to live with it!"

John was just left in utter shock. It was as if L. D. could do a better impersonation of him then himself! "Wow! I'm impressed. That's gotta mean something, right? Give him a hand!" Little Deej and Doctor Jolly spread wide grins on their faces at the exact same time in astonishment.

"Thank you very much-u! Now, that leaves only one person left! Give it up for Rondi!" Rondi smiled her beautiful teeth she didn't have. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I can't wait to see youw gweat impwession of me, Little Deej! I'm, wike, a huge fan! Sewiously! I weally wove youw wowk!"

"Good to hear! I seriously can't believe how many fans I've gained in such a short time. I'm very happy you all like it! Seriously! You guys rock! Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to make it to the big time, y'know, perform comedy in front of thousands of people! I know I can do it!"

"Anyways, sorry to get so off topic you guys," Little Deej apologized, his stiff lips up to the microphone. "Let's continue, with Rondi! So, tell me Rondi, what did you do before you came here?" Rondi tapped her chin and looked towards the sky. "Hmmm, you know, dat's a vewy good question. What did I du befowe I came hewe? Wet's see..."

"Fiwst, I swept in my bed. I knew dat today waw going to be a wong day, so I decided to get a wittwe shut-eye befowe I came to duh pawty. Aftew dat, I went aww the way down to duh fiwst fwoow, because I had to wowk as duh bawista down thewe. I even got duh pweasuwe of seeing Todd chug a unicown-femed dwink! Then I was hewe."

Little Deej coughed a little and did a surprisingly good job of imitating Rondi's voice, even though he is a guy. "Wow, dat sounds weally weally good! Next twime, make suwe to bwing me awong fow duh wide, becwause I'm aways open to twwying new fings."

Rondi giggled and hugged Little Deej. She hasn't had this much fun in a while! "Ohmygosh, dank you so much! Dat was **awesome**! It was like tawking to mysewf! Sewiouswy, you have weal tawent. Danks so much fow bweing hewe. Wound of appwause, evewyone!" Little Deej hugged her. Now this was the best day of Rondi's life.

"And now, for my final act," Little Deej announced. "Calvin, do you think you could do me a favor and get me my suitcase? There's something I want to take out of it. Thanks in advance!" It was underneath John's feet!

"Sorry, John, but I'm going to need you to get off of that briefcase, I need it." John stepped off of it and Calvin handed it to Little Deej. "Thanks Calvin! Tell you guys what, for being such great assistants, when Doctor Jolly is finished with his hilarious shenanigans, go over to D. J.'s desk for a sur-prize!" Calvin's eyes lit up. Wonder what it could be?

"Now, I thank you all for being such a great audience. You all have been so gracious and supportive. Thanks so much for all the feedback that you have given me, so that I may improve in my comedic skills. ***sniffles out of joy*** " Doctor Jolly thanked, tears in his eyes.

"Now, sorry for the crying there. I will now proceed to chug this entire jug of milk as Little Deej spells the word, 'Mississippi'." Doctor Jolly said, returning to his regular self and holding up a jug of milk he got from his suitcase. And there he went! He ripped off the cap and put his lips up to the jug and tilted it over 180 degrees.

At first Little Deej didn't speak a single letter while Doctor Jolly was slurping away at the dairy goodness, but he eventually did. "Emmm... eyyyeee... essss... esssss..." Little Deej kept going and going somehow, despite his voice being a little gurgly. If that makes any sense.

"...Eyyyee!" Little Deej sputtered in a tiny voice. Doctor Jolly finished off the dairy product and burped. "Thank you!" D. J. said, returning to his normal persona and wiping off his milk beard. Then the final round of applause was heard, with most of the students standing up in inspiration of the events that just took place.

Who knows? The students could have just witnessed the start of a great career. Maurecia roller skated to the stage and grabbed the microphone. "Thank you! That was great, D. J.! We hope to have you around for the next party as well! Seriously, I was practically rolling on the floor with laughter! Once again, thanks!"

D. J. walked off the stage in glee and sat down with the rest of the partygoers, all at their table. Maurecia continued. "So, we're gonna have a ten minute intermission before we start our next thing. If you need to use the bathroom, do it now!"

The classroom lights came back on and everyone moved around to where they wanted or needed to go. Calvin went back to his job of getting supplies for Bebe, and John went to use the bathroom. He had been holding it the whole time he was up there. Todd wanted to talk with Maurecia real quick, but she had left the stage.

Maurecia went out the door and down to the 29th floor of Wayside. There, Stephen and Terrence were waiting for her. "Sorry, we just now finished with Doctor Jolly. Didn't expect it to take so long, but everyone seemed to love it!" Terence looked up from where he was sitting, on the floor.

"That's okay, I guess. Glad you guys had fun for once! Anyways, what should we do next?" Terence pondered for a moment. As he did that, D. J. burst out the classroom door and joined them. He ran down the stairs and was sweating a little.

"Huff... sorry guys... there were some kids that wanted my autograph... puff... but luckily I was able to finish with them and make it over here! What are we discussing?" Stephen rolled his eyes. "We're talking about how awesome and amazing Todd is. No, we're talking about what we should do next, silly goose!" D. J. laughed. "I see. Any ideas or suggestions thus far?"

Maurecia replied, "Nope. Not yet." Stephen looked at his watch and sighed. Then he suggested, "Tsk,tsk, tsk. If we want to keep the students entertained for, I don't know, 3 hours, then we need to play some _games!_ Everyone likes _games._ " "Not a half bad idea." Terence said. "Sure, why not?" D. J. agreed.

Maurecia spread a big grin on her face and laughed maniacally. _"This gives me an idea..."_

Meanwhile, Todd was just laughing and talking with Myron and Dana. After all, they're all best friendzzz. They were all staring at the colorful ceiling of the classroom while listening to the music coming from the loudspeakers, and sitting on beanbag chairs with their hands on their laps.

"So, how you guys doing?" Todd asked, trying to get a conversation started. Dana adjusted her glasses. "Pretty good I guess. I'm just hoping I can get all my homework done by the end of the day! Or by the end of next morning!" Myron sighed. "Y'know, Dana, you don't have to get your homework done right now. Why not just do it over the weekend or something?" He was obviously a little offended by Dana's use of her time. "What are you talking about, Myron? I need all the time I can get to do this stuff."

Myron continued talking. "Meh, it's just what I think. I can't wait to do more things! I bet it's all gonna be super awesome. I just hope I can get to bed on time. A class president needs plenty of beauty sleep!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of chips and proceeded to eat some, crunching rather loudly.

Todd flopped over on his side and responded, "That's great you guys. I'm so glad we can lounge around like this, but I am getting tired! Maybe it's the beanbag... it's just so comfy, it's pulling me in..." Todd started to sink into the beanbag, while humming the C note continuously.

Luckily, Dana noticed it just as he was about to sink all the way in. "Todd!" She reached inside the bean bag and pulled him back out. He gasped for a little bit, and hyperventilated. "Thank you, I almost got sucked in there!" "No problem. It's just I what friends do!"

Suddenly, after Dana said that, Todd noticed something was a little bit... off. Todd sat up, looked around, and asked, "Hey, where's Maurecia? I don't know where she went after D. J.'s thing ended." Myron and Dana just shrugged. The trio chatted a little more, for about six minutes, and then, something happened!

The whole secret council barged through the door of the class. Of course, no one except them knows that they're in that council. Terence and D. J. went near the cozy air conditioners near the back of the classroom, Stephen went to the back of the room, and Maurecia stood on top of Mrs. Jewels's desk.

Maurecia cleared her throat and yelled, "Alright everyone, listen up! Now that we've done that, we're going to try something else... we're going to play some GAMES! Yeah!" Everyone clapped and cheered. Especially Myron. If he wants people to know that he's a good class president then he can prove it by winning all of them!

Dana and Todd looked at each other and asked at the same time, "Sounds like fun, but I wonder what games in particular?" I guess great minds think alike? Maurecia took off her helmet and set it upside down on the floor next to her. She had another announcement about this. "Okay, so, here's how this is gonna work," she said, trying her best to make sure everyone in the class could hear.

"We have some options for games: Hide and Seek and the secret game. If you'd like to play the secret game first, raise your hand!" A few kids like Terence and Rondi raised their hands. But not many. "So, that just leaves us with Hide and Seek!" Almost the entire class raised their hands, hide and seek is everyone's favorite!

"Okay! Hide and Seek it is! Thanks to everyone who voted. Now, does everyone here know the rules to Hide and Seek?" Kathy raised her hand and yelled, "Sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't. I don't really play silly games." Maurecia noticed her. "Okay, basically, in this game you..."

 _3 excruciating minutes later..._

"...and yea, that's all there is to it. Get it?" Kathy sneered. "Yea, I guess I understand your silly kid game." D. J. looked at her in disbelief from where he was sitting, at a corner of the room. He was not in the mood for bad or sarcastic vibes.

"Great! So, let's get started! How many seekers do you all think we should have? There's around 28 of us in this classroom, so how many do you guys think?" Maurecia asked. The class yelled out a bunch of different answers, but in the end, five prevailed. "Okay, fantastic! We'll have five seekers, and I'm guessing 23 hiders? Yea, that seems about right. Now, let's set down some ground rules..."

"Everyone playing this game can hide anywhere EXCEPT...

1\. Mr. Kidswatter's office. I don't think he wants us in there.

2\. Any place below the first floor, like the basement or the sub-basement or the sub-sub-basement. That place is too creepy! And...

3\. Mrs. Jewels's room. You have to get more creative than that!

Okay, does everyone fully and completely understand?"

Of course, everyone did. And so, now it was time for the most important part: picking the seekers. "So," Maurecia continued. "Since we need five seekers, do we have any volunteers?" D. J. and Myron raised their hands. But that was it. "Okay, thank you Myron and D. J. for being brave and volunteering! But we still need three more people... hmm... oh, I know!"

Maurecia took off her helmet. It was filled with little pieces of paper with everyone's names on it. "I'll just decide randomly! Our third seeker is..." She reached every so slowly into the helmet and pulled out Jenny's name! "...Jenny!" She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about this, because she thinks it's more fun to hide. But there's no changing the paper's mind!

Maurecia pulled out Shari and Bebe's name and announced that they would also be seekers. Bebe wasn't really listening, so of course, she didn't look up from her drawing. Shari just gave a thumbs up when she heard her name. "Okay, now that everything is settled, let's do it! Everyone who isn't a seeker has a minute to hide! Go!" Maurecia announced, then set her timer (that was also in her helmet) for one minute.

All the kids giggled and cheered as they scrambled to get out the front door of the classroom. They kind of got a little stuck since they were all trying to do it at the same time! Maurecia was kind of blocking the main way through, so of course, Stephen said, "Maurecia! We don't have that much time! C'mon!"

Maurecia rolled her eyes and replied, "Well, I don't think it was such a good idea to all go through the same door at the same time in the first place..." She eventually got through and so did the rest of the kids, flowing smoothly like a river or waterfall. Now it was time for them to figure out where they're going to go!

Maurecia started coming up with ideas right away. Maybe she could hide in the closet near the stairs on the first floor? Or inside the various trophy cases throughout the hallways? There are so many possibilities!

Todd, on the other hand, knew _exactly_ where he was going. It was another spot he specifically picked out for situations like this: the Wayside pool. No one would even bother to look in there! The only problem was this: how would he breathe? He can barely hold his breath for thirty seconds! He needed something to aid him.

He thought about that as he raced down the stairs to the gym. He eventually arrived, and of course, he was almost out of breath. He only had so much time to hide! "Now, where did Mrs. Jewels put the scuba-diving gear after we went on that field trip? Hmmm..." he asked himself as he stared at the water.

He looked through the storage rooms, and to his surprise, he found what he was looking for! 3 sets of oxygen tanks and helmets. He excitedly grabbed all of the equipment, put them all on, and was in the water.

* * *

"Now... if I divide the chance of a person finding me by the fun factor and general velocity... would that make hiding in the storage room a good idea? Gosh!" she mumbled, pacing around in Mrs. Jewels's room still. If she didn't think of something fast, she would be found!

She realized at this point that she only had 30 seconds to find a place, because she was overthinking it too much! "Gaah! Think Dana, think! You have to do good at _something_ other than math!" she yelled with her hands on her head in agony. She wanted to show Todd, Maurecia and Myron that she could do good at such "childish games".

Luckily, in a pure stroke of genius, she got an idea! She was going to hide on the monkey bars at the playground. They were always her favorite. She patted herself on the back real quick, and off she went to the playground!

She ran down the stairs as fast as she could and hoped no one would find her. Soon enough, she flew out the door and into the cold outside air. "How refreshing! Now, to the monkey bars! Where are they again... haven't been out here in ages... hmmm..."

It took her only a few seconds to find it again. Lately, she had been using her recess time to study for some quizzes, which is why she couldn't remember for a couple seconds. She wrapped herself around the metal bars and hoped for the best.

This is why Myron volunteered to be a seeker. He knew he would have way more fun finding people, plus he was better at it, plus he wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to hide! "57... 58... 59... 60! Ready or not, here we come!" he called out over the intercom so everyone could hear it. And off the seekers went! Luckily for them, not everyone had found a hiding spot yet.

Myron started trudging along the school hallways, breathing heavily, almost like a monkey looking for a banana. He was smelling everything to help him find people. And it worked! While doing so on the first floor, he found the three Erics all inside lockers next to each other.

"Wow! That was so easy! I'm going to win this in no time!" Myron said as they were getting out. "I told you to stop laughing!" Eric Fry said to Eric Ovens, frustrated. They all went to Mrs. Jewels's room. Myron continued on with the hunt, now on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Shari and Jenny were searching Louis' closet. It was on the twenty-ninth floor, so they thought they'd work their way down from there. "You'd think someone would hide in here. There's so much stuff to hide under," Jenny said, sorting through all the buckets. "I'm not even so sure we're supposed to be in here! Do you have a clue, Sister Sleep?"

Shari nodded in her sleep accordingly. Even if she was asleep, she could still help. They kept on digging through the supplies, to no avail. They soon moved on to other rooms.

D. J. was smarter than all the other kids, though. He knew the school inside and out. And that also meant he knew were the best hiding spots were! So, naturally, finding people that were hiding was a breeze. He was able to find Rondi, Leslie and John in just under 5 minutes!

Rondi and Leslie were hiding underneath the bed in the construction class, while John was hiding in his locker. The only thing about hide and seek that he didn't like was when he actually found someone. D. J. was always worried that someone (or something) was going to jump out at him. Especially when people hide behind curtains, and he has to pull them off just to see if there's anyone.

Rondi, Leslie, and John were all very disappointed when they got found. They all went up to Mrs. Jewels's room, with all the other kids who had been found. Soon enough, the room was filled with upset kids from the class.

John sat at his desk sighing. "Darn, I wish I would've been smart and hid in the gym! No one would've thought of there!" He started to draw a picture to pass the time. "Hmph! Dat wuz no fwaiw! I want a wematch!" Rondi complained. She put her head down and started to sleep.

Leslie didn't really care. She just grabbed her hairbrush from under her desk and brushed her pigtails gently. Soon enough, more and more kids came piling in from the classroom door. And, of course, most of them came from D. J. and his mad seeking skills. "D. J. is so good at this game... what is the point of playing? We're just all going to get founded by D. J. eventually..." Joe complained.

Suddenly, when D. J. was searching on the fourteenth floor, he got a call on his walkie-talkie. _"_ _Chhhh, come in Dangerous Jelly! Come in Dangerous Jelly! This is Purple Sparrow here! Chhhh. Over._ _"_ Maurecia's voice blared through the tiny speaker. _"I hear ya loud and clear. Oops. I meant, chhhh. I hear you loud and clear. What seems to be the issue, Maur- I mean- Purple Sparrow?"_ D. J. answered while walking down the hallway.

 _"Chhhh. Thanks for answering! It's just... don't take this the wrong way or anything, but... you seem to be too good at this game. More and more kids are being found because of you. Just play a little easier, okay? Chhh. Over."_ Maurecia replied, trying her best not to sound rude.

D. J. kept smiling, but it was sort of one of those sad-smiles. He raised the speaker up to his lips and said, _"Chhhh. I understand. I'll see if I can go a little easier. Chhhh. Over." "Chhhh. Thanks for understanding! Seeya in a little bit. Chhhh."_ He put his walkie talkie back in his imaginary pocket and headed off to the gym.

* * *

Of course, Todd was still underwater, in his scuba gear and helmet. He still had 3 hours worth of oxygen left, so he thought he would be good for a while. And the best part is that somehow, the helmet made him able to hear everything that was happening in the room!

So, for about thirty minutes, Todd had to listen to a fly buzzing around. He tried to sing songs to pass the time. _"Wow,"_ he thought. _"This thing is really great! Why didn't I think about using this during those killer lap swims? But then again, everyone would probably notice the big weird thing on my head. Heh."_

Suddenly, Todd heard the door open. He eyes opened, as Todd was starting to fall asleep. At first, Todd didn't know who it was. But then he did when D. J. called out in a singsong voice, _"Is anybody in heeerree? Come out come out, wherever you aaarree!"_

Todd gasped and tried his best to make sure he didn't see him. Of course, this wasn't going to be easy, considering how developed D. J.'s senses are. He has the eyes of a hawk and ears like a dog! He immediately started searching for his next prey and checked the closets next to the pool. Empty. He sniffed a little and his nose lead him to the pool.

Todd held his breath in fear, and prayed that he wouldn't dive in. But it was too late. D. J. went up on the diving board and went in. When he did it, Todd saw all the pretty bubbles, and then D. J.'s skinny silhouette. Todd gasped as D. J. started to swim after him. D. J. certainly couldn't see in the water, but he could still hear!

Todd kept on swimming and swimming, but he started to get tired after a while. He would check back behind him every few seconds to see if the black-haired male was there. He was like a machine, pumping away like a propeller! Eventually, Todd was too tired, so he just laid out his arms and accepted his fate: being caught by him.

Todd watched D. J. come towards him rather quickly, and saw his big smiling face not too far away from his own face. He started to feel a little uncomfortable. But then, D. J. did something really weird: he dived underneath him and he didn't catch him. Todd watched as he climbed out of the pool. "Darn it all, there must not be anyone in there! Oh well. Guess I'll just have to look elsewhere!" He ran out of the gym.

"How odd," Todd said to himself. "I was pretty sure he was going to have no mercy with me! I wonder if he did that on purpose or not?" Eventually, all the seekers gave up. The only kids hat remained hiding were Todd and Dana. No one found Todd, and no one even bothered to check the monkey bars! Of course, D. J. would've found everyone, if it weren't for Maurecia.

All the kids spilled back into the room, eventually. It took the longest for Dana to get all the way back up. Everyone just started talking and hanging out, just like usual. Maurecia roller-skated back onto Mrs. Jewels's desk to say the next announcement.

Everyone silenced so she could say what she needed to say. "Thank you," she calmly said. "Now, how did it go everyone? Give me a thumbs-up, thumbs-down or thumbs-sideways!" As soon as she asked that, the whole class participated. Most of the students gave a thumbs-sideways, as it was a little difficult to find a place, but they still had fun anyways. There were also the few that gave a thumbs-up, like D. J., since he got to catch 95% of his prey.

"Great! Glad to see that most of you were at least satisfied with it. Any suggestions for the _next time_ that we play this?" No one in the class raised their hand, although D. J. wanted to raise his hand and say, "Maybe make the hiders more difficult to find?" but... that would be a little rude.

"Alright, well, let's move on." Maurecia said, starting to get excited for the next game. "This may or may not be the last thing of the night. We'll just have to see how long this one takes, since it is very experimental. We're going to be playing..."

Everyone patted their knees again as a drumroll. "...Close Your Eyes!" The whole class cheered, except for Todd, considering he was the most normal one there. After about a minute, everyone stopped because of one crucial detail: _no one had even heard of that game!_

Todd raised his hand accordingly. "Yes, Todd?" "Ummm, yea. How do we play this game exactly?" he asked, just as confused as everyone else. Only he was brace enough to actually raise his hand. Maurecia got another Cheshire-cat like grin on her face and said, "I'm glad you asked, Todd! I'm glad you asked..."

"Okay, so basically, here's how it works: everyone splits up into groups of 7. They all sit around in a circle and they spin a roller-skate around. I'll supply them. Whoever the roller-skate lands on has to answer a question, and then they have to do something... with their eyes closed! So, what do you guys think?"

Most of the class loved the idea! Even if it was basically just Truth-or-Dare meets Spin The Bottle. Todd, on the other hand, wasn't exactly enthusiastic. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and remarked to Myron and Dana, "Hmm. This doesn't sound right. I'm not so sure if I wanna do this." They just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Don't worry Todd, it'll be fun. I hope. I can make someone vote for me! Hopefully they can write their signature with their eyes closed..." Myron said. "Yea Todd! Don't be such a sourpuss! I'm sure Maurecia is a very responsible and mature person, and that any game she makes would be fun! Lighten up, will ya?" Todd started to block out his cloudy thoughts. After all, what's the worst that could possibly happen?

"Okay. I guess you guys are right. I should stop worrying to much and have more fun." Maurecia smiled even larger, if that's even possible, and said excitedly, "Great! Alright, let's get started! Everyone, split up into groups and sit on the floor in a circle!" Everyone in the class did as they were told, even if some were a little skeptical.

Of course, in Maurecia's group, Todd sat at Maurecia's right, and Jenny sat at her left. Next to Todd was Myron, and next to Jenny was D. J. Dana was near the opposite end of where Maurecia was. "Okay, I can already tell we're going to have lotsa fun! So, let's start!" Maurecia said very excitedly, and got out her skate, and put it in the middle of the large circle of students.

"So, since I created this game, how about I spin first?" D. J. raised his hand. "Would it be cool if I did first? I'll be like our test monkey or something. Ooh ooh, aah aah!" Maurecia was amused, so she responded with, "Okay then! Go ahead." He made more monkey noises and spun the roller skate. It spun for a few seconds before landing on Maurecia. She chuckled nervously as his smile grew wide.

"Okay, well first, I want you to... _lick your elbow!_ " D. J. exclaimed, wanting to do this his whole life. She tried, and she was almost there, surprisingly, when D. J. interrupted. "Ooh ooh! I know! I have a question... what did you have for breakfast?!" She sighed in relief. "I had French toast and some scrambled eggs." D. J. clapped a little, since he was excited. "Alright-y! I've always been dying to know that! I had a bowl of nails."

Maurecia paused. "Okay then. Do we have any volunteers for whoever would like to go next?" Of course, Myron's hand sproigned into the air. This was his chance to finally _make_ a person vote for him. Sure, he's told people to, but now he was guaranteed to get another vote. One step closer to ruling the world!

"Okay. I'll give it a good spin, alright!" And he spun the skate with the force of a thousand grandmas during Black Friday. And guess who it landed on? Jenny! Maurecia snickered. "Tough luck!" Maurecia she whispered, unannounced to Myron, of course. Jenny gulped.

"I'll do my question first. Do you think I would make a class president? Or at least one better than Normy or Stephen?" Jenny thought for a split second, and then answered, "Uh... yea. I guess? Sorry I'm not really good with this politics stuff. Honestly, when I fill out the ballot sheet I just pick whoever's name I think sounds the cutest!"

"Well, that's good enough I guess." Myron said under his breath. "Okay, well, now I get to make you do something... heh heh heh..." He looked at his _slightly_ dirty hands as Jenny became more concerned. But then he just took out a paper and pencil and asked for her to write, "I think Myron would make the besterest class prez evar!" And so she did. "Thanks for your cooperation!"

Maurecia laughed a little and continued on with the game. "Okay, how about you go next, Todd? You're the guest of honor, after all." Well, what did he have to lose? He spun the roller-skate.

Meanwhile, at one of the other groups, things weren't exactly going as planned. The three Erics were all fighting over who got to spin first at their group. "Gimme, gimme!" Eric Bacon yelled. Bebe didn't like to watch this, so she took it from them and she spun.

Unfortunately, it landed in between two people: Calvin and John. Bebe didn't know what to do when that happened, so she decided to go over to Maurecia and ask her. "Hey Maurecia, what should I do if the roller-skate lands in between two people? Should I just-"

Maurecia turned around with an evil face and started spewing words. "I'm sorry but I'm in the middle of the game right now with Todd. I guess you could just spin again until it happens."

Bebe went back to the game and tried again, and it landed in between them a second time. "Aaargh... this is more frustrating than having pencil smudge on a drawing... I'm not so sure if I want to do this." She groaned.

To Todd's dismay, the skate landed on... Maurecia. He knew that was going to happen. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now. "Okay, so what does that mean again?" She explained the rules... again. "Okay, Maurecia, what is your favorite color?" "Dark purple or dark blue or light red." She didn't want him to ask such a boring question.

"Fair enough. Now, I get to make you do something...hmmm..." Maurecia wasn't even worried, because she knows Todd. He wouldn't make her do anything bad. He's fair. And secretly... that's one of the reasons why she likes him. Of course, she wouldn't let a single living soul know that, though.

"Okay, how about this. I want you to say the whole alphabet... backwards." D. J. gave Todd sort of a sour face. He wanted him to at least try to think of something more creative. But of course, Todd couldn't do that, considering his normal nature. Still, Maurecia was interested. She tried, but didn't succeed.

Now it was Maurecia's turn, and boy, did she have a plan! Considering she was the one who made the game. "Okay, now it's MY turn! I'm so excited!" She said in her normal tomboyish voice. She spun the roller-skate and somehow, someway, _it landed on. Tood._

Now Todd was extremely worried. Who knows what kind of torture she was going to put him through?! " **YES!** Okay, Todd, my question for you is this..." Everything seemed to be in slow motion for a few seconds. Even though, of course, everything wasn't. It was all just in Todd's head. The next few words that Todd would hear would be the worst possible thing...

 _"Do you like me?"_

Of course, she meant romantically. That's how you say that at that age, of course. Everyone in the circle gasped! They didn't think she would actually ask that! Todd's throat tightened and he started to feel queasy. But luckily, he had an idea. _"Ummm... w-w-would it be okay if I-I-I did something first and then answered the question?"_ He stammered, sweat dripping down his forehead a little.

Although Maurecia wasn't looking for Todd to say this exactly, she wasn't disappointed. She could still do what she intended. "Okay, Todd, if you want to play it that way, then okay. So, I want you to... close your eyes!" Todd did. He didn't know why, of course.

Then, unannounced to everyone, Maurecia got closer to Todd and put her hands on his. Everyone in the group watched in confusion. Then, Maurecia started to bring her face to his and she was puckering her lips! But before anything happened, someone _familiar_ barged through the door...

 **But yea, that's all I have for this installment. In the future the chapters won't have as many words, but twice the story, so it'll all be good. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next chapter! Coming soon. Also, Happy Valentines Day!**


	8. Girl Scout Cookies

**Who knew?** A Wayside Fanfiction by Tyler Raymundo

NOTE: I'm not the best writer, and this is my first time writing fanfiction. This is a continuation of the fanfic I'm currently working on. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are on my profile)

So, I would recommend kicking **back** , and getting out your bag of Lays potato chips. Or whatever snack you happen to have on hand. Don't worry. I won't judge. Why would I? This is a fanfiction after all. We are free to do whatever we want! (almost) ;) Always remember: no one can judge you when you're reading fanfiction. That's one of those things that'll stick with you your whole life!

Also: huge shoutout to Mel Mason for following me, favoriting me, following this story, and favoriting this story, as well as reviewing it! You rock!

Here it goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Girl Scout Cookies

Just as she was about to finally kiss Todd, Maurecia's heart stopped when she heard the door open. All the kids stopped in fear as well. The door swung open, and, well, this happened...

"¿uo ƃuᴉoƃ s,ʇɐɥM" the mysterious figure asked in an odd voice. They were wearing a long trench coat and a gas mask so no one could see who they were. Some of the kids got scared, and Myron hid under his beanbag chair. But then the mysterious person revealed themself. It was none other than Mrs. Jewels!

"What are you monkeys doing in here? As far as I know it's not time for class. Shouldn't you all be in bed?" she asked, straightening out her pink hair. Todd and Maurecia looked at each other in relief. Mrs. Jewels would understand, right? Myron crawled from under his hiding spot and sniffed the floor. The pop music in the background continued.

Maurecia sighed in relief and said, "Oh, Mrs. Jewels! Funny seeing you here, heheh... you see, it's kind of a long story, but we all just came here late at night so we could... um..." She looked at Todd, hoping he could come up with something clever.

"We were just... studying for our Portuguese lesson! Yes, that's it. _Janela, porta! Janela, porta!_ " Mrs. Jewels smiled. She knew she could always count on her students to exceed in her class. "Very good!" Dana was a little confused about the whole situation. "But why are you here, Mrs. Jewels?"

"Oh, it's just a new rule Kidswatter put in the handbook. I have to be here in the morning every Sunday from now on." Neither Todd nor Maurecia realized it was now the next day. They hadn't even been bothered to check the clock once they started playing the party games. This wasn't good for the secret council, as they didn't want their events to drag on for so long.

"But, since you guys are up so late and I'm here, why don't we do some classwork to help pass the time? Doesn't that sound great?" All the partygoers sighed. Especially the council; they were really ashamed they let this get out of control. This hasn't happened before. Luckily, Terence had thought up something specifically to do if this happened...

"Well, while we'd love to do that, Mrs. Jewels, it is rather late, and we should probably be getting home to our mummies and daddies. Isn't that right Tood?" Todd just went along with it.

"Oh, that's fine too. Honestly I'm just surprised you all can stay up so late!" Terence flung himself out the window and onto the trampoline down below. Everyone gathered around the window in awe. "Well, who's next?" Mrs. Jewels asked. Calvin and John soon followed, and eventually everyone was outside.

All the kids looked at each other, wondering what to do next. A lot of them couldn't go home just yet due to a lot of them needing to ride the bus to get home. "Okay, so now what?" shouted John to everyone over their commotion. "We have absolutely nowhere to go at this point." Maurecia just laughed his complaints off. "Pffft, don't be so pessimistic. I have a plan."

* * *

Everyone sat in a circle around her, eager to hear what she was going to say. "Alright, so, in case you all didn't already know, what is the first rule to being a party planner?"

No one knew, except for the party planners themselves. But of course they couldn't answer. "Really? No one knows? The first rule is _you need to be prepared for anything. It's necessary to make sure that every possible scenario is under control._ "

Kathy spoke up. "Really? There's absolutely nothing more important?" Maurecia was most definitely not in the mood for back talk. "Ya. I'm sure of it. Anyways, the reason why I mention this is because of my plan I had for this moment."

She took off her helmet and out came a whistle. She blew it promptly, and no one thought it would do anything... until they started hearing some machinery noises. From out behind some tall nearby bushes came... a gigantic, old, rickety bus that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Some of the kids laughed, because they thought it was a joke. Others were amazed.

The bus' headlights still glowed bright yellow in the dark night. There were parts of the cogs and wires that were draping off to the side, dragging around in the ground, and the bus itself was slightly bright compared to the starry sky, like a dream. The only thing was, was that it barely worked.

"You're joking, right?" Kathy sighed, unenthusiastic as ever. "Nope. I had this bad boy pre-ordered specifically for this occasion." Maurecia knocked on her helmet two times and the doors of the bus suddenly opened, to everyone's amazement.

All the kids slowly stepped inside, eager to see what it looked like. It was just a normal bus, really, with its rows of seats and many buttons and valves in the front. Nonetheless, it was pretty cool.

That's when everyone started goofing off. Calvin, John, Joe, and Jason started to jump from seat to seat while singing an off-key version of "I'm A Little Teapot". At least they didn't start taking their clothes off! Maurecia and Jenny started messing with all the levers like it was that one episode of Wheels Extreme: The Anime where Wheels and Extreme start to mess with the conveyor belt.

Todd on the other hand, did not want to engage in such foolish activities. So he just sat politely in the front seat, patiently waiting for the madness to stop. When you have friends _this_ immature you learn to wait. "At least no one's messing with me." Todd thought.

Then, as if on-cue, Joy sat in the seat behind Todd. "Hey Todd. Enjoying yourself, I see?" He just ignored her. She became upset, and promptly took the gum she was chewing out of her mouth and put it in Todd's hair. "Hey! Why'd you do that?! How am I going to take care of this?!"

Joy laughed. "Guess you'll just have to find a way! Catch you on the Wayside," Joy went to the back seats of the bus as fast as she could. Todd just sighed and went up front with Maurecia. "Hey, Maurecia," Todd softly said. Maurecia immediately stopped what she was doing and turned towards him, cartoon hearts in her eyes.

 _"Yeeeesss, Tooodddd?"_ She asked, fixing her hair and making herself look as cute as possible. "Um, yea, I was just wondering if you could do me a favor..." Todd majestically said. Maurecia gasped as Todd got on one knee. All the kids stopped in their tracks. Todd pulled out a little case of something from his pocket. It was... a wedding ring?! What?!

"Beloved Maurecia... will you m-m-marry m-me?" Todd stammered nervously. Maurecia gasped! "Oh, Todd! Of course! **A thousand times over yes!** I can't believe this is finally happening!" She watched as he put the ring on her finger, still in shock.

Everyone else then chanted in unison: "Yaaaayy! Maurecia! Maurecia! Maurecia!" But then... their voices changed to just Todd's as she went back to the real world. "Maurecia! Maurecia! Maurecia! Are you going to answer me?" She shook her head. "Sorry, what did you ask me, Todd? I zoned out."

Todd sighed. "Do you have any scissors so I can get this gum out of my hair?" She reached inside her helmet and out came the scissors. "Thanks!" After that was over with, Todd sat at his spot and Maurecia went up front.

"Okay everyone, listen up. There's been a very slight change in plans that's very important." Everyone stopped talking to listen, sitting nicely in their seats. "Originally, we were going to have it so the bus would just drive us all the way to where we needed to go, but..."

"It turns out, the bus can't really go to other places on its own. We're going to need to all pitch in to get this thing nice and running. It might be difficult, but hey, if we work together as a team, we can do it, right?"

Everyone cheered **"YEEEAAA!"** at the same time in enthusiasm. "So, here's how it's going to work: me and the party plann- I mean, some random people I choose, and Todd, are going to man the main control panel here up front. Everyone else will either give us encouragement or do something else. Jobs will be assigned accordingly, I guess."

Everyone reached a general agreement. If they ever wanted to get back home, they were going to need to work _together._ Every person doing their job to get this vehicle up and running. Todd and Maurecia went up simultaneously to the control panel and got to work. "Okay, so, do you have any expertise on how to start a vehicle?" Todd asked, a little excited by the stunt they were about to pull off.

"What? I thought you would, Todd. You're the normalest one here and driving a vehicle is one of the normalest things you can do!" "Well I'm not even close to turning 16 so what makes you think-" But then Jenny pushed the two away from each other before they get into a full blown argument. "Guys! Arguing is what grownups do. It's silly. Let's not be like them and do that, okay?"

They settled their differences. It did seem silly. "Let's just see what happens and go from there!" D. J. said enthusiastically. And so they did. Maurecia pulled the front lever and the engine started. "Purring just like a kitten!" Jenny exclaimed.

Todd pulled the lever right next to the one Maurecia pulled and it put the bus into drive. How does Todd know this? It had the letter 'D' next to it. Nearly all the little ones went up front to see this baby in action!

"Woah woah! Does this actually work?" Calvin questioned frantically. "Why wouldn't it? Why would you doubt the power of the party planners, able to resurrect locomotives at our desire?" Stephen said ever so mysteriously. Calvin couldn't disagree with that logic!

"Okay, Dana, step on it!" Maurecia shouted over the hype. She immediately climbed under the control panel and pressed the gas pedal with her hand. But it wouldn't press down all the way! "Umm, Maurecia? There seems to be-"

Suddenly Myron went down there and pressed his entire hand on the pedal, and the bus was off! It started cruising at a safe speed of 5 mph. "Huzzah, it actually works!" everyone on the bus said in one form or another.

The only thing was... it was starting to go the wrong way! Nearly all the kids laughed as the bus started shredding through the grass and away from the streets. The planners and Todd, however, weren't as amused. They could get into some serious trouble for pulling a shenanigan like this. "Todd! Help me steer it!" Maurecia shouted, struggling to move the heavy wheel.

Luckliy, Todd was actually pretty strong. The two moved the bus back onto the road in no time. Then they high-fived! "Aw yea. Now hopefully we can help ourselves get back home." John said.

But now everyone was wondering if that wasn't such a good idea after all... now that they were on the road, they were more likely to get hit, of course! And they hadn't even thought about just taking a shortcut through the forest or something like that.

They first came upon a stoplight that was shining a bright red. And you know what that means! "Myron, Dana, the brakes!" Todd screeched. But they didn't do anything. Maurecia looked under the control panel only to find the two playing _Go_ _Fish._ "Got any fives?" Myron asked.

"Guys! Now's not the time for that! Hit the brakes or we're gonna crash!" Maurecia frantically told them. Myron sighed and took his hand off the gas pedal and onto the brake pedal, as he was told. The bus slowly came to a stop, just in time.

Maurecia knew it was time for another quick announcement. "Okay everyone," she affirmed. "Now that we're on the road, we're thinking of just going from stop to stop, just like a normal school bus. So! In order for that to happen, I need everyone to write their stop on this piece of paper right here. Go ahead and pass it around."

And so they did. D. J. got it first and he wrote his address, then he passed it to Jenny, then Shari, and so on and so forth. Meanwhile, Todd and Maurecia tried their best to go around town safely, but just ended up going around in circles.

Eventually, the elusive paper got back around to the party planners, although now it was slightly crumpled up and had a few unidentifiable stains on it. But at least it was somewhat legible. Now that Todd and Maurecia knew where they were going, they could stop going around in circles.

* * *

So, the bus first had to get off the restaurant corner and onto Main Street. So that meant all the kids needed to calm down. D. J. cupped his hands in a way that made his voice project like a megaphone.

"Everyone, please settle down, because you certainly wouldn't do this if you were in the car with your mommy or daddy!" he said in a desperate attempt to get everyone to stop. But it was no use. Todd, Myron, Dana and the planners were just going to have to ignore them if they wanted to get anywhere. Which is why Myron and Dana were playing chess.

The bus came up to another red light. To the right of them was a bald man in an old-fashioned car. He looked over at the bus, and then back on the road, as per usual. But then he looked back in shock as he noticed _there were kids controlling this bus!_ And then the light turned green and traffic continued, leaving the man confused behind them.

"Okay, so, according to this list, our first stop is none other than all the houses on Main Street. So, who will get off here?" Stephen asked. Around 10 kids raised their hands, including all but Maurecia of the party planners, John, Joy, Calvin, Rondi, and some others. _"Didn't realize so many people got off here,"_ Maurecia thought. _"This'll be easier than I thought."_

Soon enough they arrived at the stop, and let everyone that needed to go off. Now there barely was anyone on the bus, but that was okay because it meant all the noisy kids were gone.

Maurecia didn't really need the other planners, either, as they weren't that much of a help. As long as she had Todd, she was going to be fine. Todd is the reason she is always so cheerful and full of energy! ...And the reason his arm is so bruised up.

"Alright, so, now we'll just go to these last three stops and we'll be good." Todd said enthusiastically, making sure all the levers were in the right positions. "Thank you so much for helping me out with all this! Maybe you could be one of the part-" Maurecia replied, and then stopped herself from revealing the secret information. Todd, was, of course, as confused as all heck.

Soon enough, the four (Todd, Maurecia, Myron, Dana) found themselves heading to the last stop where they all get dropped off. Their houses are pretty close to each other, so they could all get off at the same intersection: conch and coral.

Myron and Dana stopped playing Monopoly™, and grabbed their backpacks from the back of the bus. "It was so fun, hanging out again. But always remember, you guys," Myron reminded. "Make sure you always vote for me!" Myron then ran off to his home, his arms parallel to his back, and then he disappeared into the night sky.

"I'm just hoping there'll still be some time to study before bed. But yea, it's always nice to hang out with my bestest buds every now and then! (giggles) _Enough with the fun!_ " Dana ran off as well. Now the only two left were Todd and Maurecia.

"Once again, thanks so much for helping me with just... everything we did tonight! I couldn't have done a lot of that stuff without you helping me the whole time, Todd." Maurecia thanked, her eyes wide and full of sparkles. Just as Todd was about to say it was no problem, _Maurecia hugged him._

At first, Todd was going to push her off of him, but for some reason... he actually didn't mind the way it felt! In fact... _he sort of liked it._ He wrapped his arms around her as well. The two embraced for a short 6 seconds.

After that, Maurecia made sure she had all her stuff, and then she went off to her house. "Seeya on Monday, Todd!" Todd waved goodbye. The only thing was, was that what was he going to do with the bus? He couldn't drive it all the way back by himself.

So, instead, he did the responsible thing and parked it at a nearby parking lot. After that it was time to head home, after a long, but fun, day. He went to his house, then went straight to bed.

* * *

Todd woke up the following day at 7 o'clock, as per usual. His head was still full of thoughts and craziness from last night, and they probably weren't going to go away for a while. It was the most fun he had had in a long time!

Todd got out of his bed and put on his slippers so he could go and have his morning cereal before he had to get ready for church. He just wanted to have a little peace and quiet. But of course, that wasn't possible for poor old Todd.

He heard his father's footsteps coming closer to him. "Good morning!" he beamed, bathrobe and all. Todd just mumbled a few words and ate his cereal, bored and tired as ever. "Remember, we're going to leave here at 9:30 for church!" his dad reminded him. Todd sighed. "Dad, I already know... I had a long day at school yesterday..."

"What, were your classes boring or something?" Todd smirked a little. "Yeah. I guess you can say that." His father shrugged and went down the hall. The only thing Todd was truly worried about was, of course, the Valentines Day Dance on Friday. He didn't know if he wanted to go with Maurecia or not. At least he had a while to figure it out.

Eventually, Todd's mom woke up and got ready and the three hopped in the car and headed for the church. "You know," Todd's mother said, fixing her orange hair. "I'm very proud of you, Todd! You've been getting really great grades at school recently. I checked them online the other day."

Todd was actually surprised, considering how bad he did on his recent tests. He thought for sure that he wouldn't have good grades. Of course, he had no problem with this. "We should do something special to celebrate!" Todd's father exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air, while of course still keeping his eyes on the road.

Todd was happy that his parents were as optimistic as ever, because he wasn't feeling so good. Maybe staying up that late wasn't the best idea. But then again, how often is it that Todd gets to do that?

Church service went as usual, with Todd being sent to his youth group while his parents watch the regular sermon. After that they all met up back at the car, like usual. "So, where to next?" Todd asked as his dad entered in the location on the GPS. "It's a surprise!" both his parents said at the same time.

Eventually they pulled up at one of Todd's favorite places: Joey's Pizza Palace! Todd was definitely surprised because him and his family don't go there nearly as much as they used to. "Really? You guys are serious?! We're going to Joey's Pizza Palace?!" "Yep! Since you got such great grades, and because we haven't been here in so long." Todd's dad graciously answered.

They parked at a nearby parking space and headed inside, both Todd's parents holding his hand. Todd felt embarrassed, but it reminded him of the good ol' days when he was younger and went here all the time.

When they entered inside, immediately Todd was hit with the nostalgic smell of tomato sauce, and mouth-watering cheese. It's the cheesiest! Not only that, but he could also see all the plastic playgrounds towering above him like gigantic neon skyscrapers. Except that they were filled with little kids' laughter.

"Alright Todd! Let's go and find something to eat so you'll have enough fuel to play." Todd's dad proclaimed. They immediately went down to where all the pizza is and stood in the slightly long line. "What are you thinking of getting, Todd?" Todd's mom asked him.

Todd didn't even need to think that much about that at all. He was going to get his favorite (because it was the only one he ever got): a 6-inch cheese pizza with extra tomato sauce. He wanted to keep it simple.

Eventually they got to the front of the line, ordered, and sat down. Todd muched on the nostalgiac goodness, while his parents just ate their pizza. "Thank you so much you guys for bringing me here again! I love you guys!" Todd said, overjoyed. "No problem, kiddo! Oh, and hey," Todd's father said, then got it close for a whisper.

 _"I hear that there's going to be a Valentine's Day dance at your school this Friday! Are you thinking of going?"_ Todd's dad anxiously whispered while Todd's mother stuffed her face. Todd almost spat out his pizza back onto his plate. "Dad! How do you know about that?!"

He pulled out his phone and pointed at the email app. _"I get emails from your school, remember? So,"_ he answered. _"Is that a yes or a no?"_ All Todd wanted to do was focus on having a good time and eating pizza. But he knew his dad wasn't going to stop bugging him if he didn't answer the question. "Honestly, I have no idea. It's not like I've been thinking about it or anything like that..."

Todd's dad responded. "Hmmm. Well, anyways, you can go play at the play area now, if you want." That was all Todd needed! He told his mom and dad that he loved them and then speeded away.

After all these years, Todd still remembered where everything was. It was almost as if he was a little kid again, before he went to Wayside. Before the incident with the kindergarteners happened. When his life was normal. Although, in all reality, he had gotten used to the wackiness of Wayside and had even begun to embrace it.

Todd stood at the bottom of the gigantic jungle gym that stood before him. He looked all the way up to the top of the amazing sight and decided that he was going to climb up the green slide to get up there. He would've done that with the yellow slide, but it was much longer and more difficult to climb.

And so, Todd took off his shoes (and socks so he could actually climb) and put them in the sneaker keeper next to the play area, then he started his voyage up the green slide. _"Wow... this really brings me back,"_ Todd thought as he felt his bare feet hit the hard material. _"I'm just hoping that no one tries and-"_

In the middle of his train of thought, it got derailed by a few kindergarteners that were sliding down unrulingly. "Wheeee! Move out of duh way!" they called out. But it was too late. To Todd's shock, they came in contact with him and the quartet all fell down together. Right back to where Todd started.

Obviously, to Todd's annoyance, he was just going to have to climb up the normal way. Even though he never did that when he was younger, it was the only way. And off he went, climbing through the many structures and somehow making it past the ballpit that always gave him trouble when he was little.

 _"Wow. How did I ever miss all this stuff when I was little, considering I was more energetic then than now?"_ Todd wondered as he glanced over the place from the top of the tower. Perhaps the reason why is because he was to occupied with all the playful things inside, rather than what might lay on top of everything.

After about 3 minutes, Todd's parents called him down from there and they all went home. He told his parents it was the most fun he's had in a long time! Well... besides yesterday, but of course, they didn't know about that one. Todd went to bed the moment he came home, he was so tired. In fact, he was surprised he didn't fall asleep at the play are, that's how exhausted he was.

* * *

Todd completely forgot about school the following day, so when his alarm clock screamed in his ear it really was a rude awakening. No matter how much he didn't want to do it though, he always still had to go to school. He ate his cereal, took a shower, got dressed, brushed his teeth, the usual morning routine. Then he started the morning trek to school. He could just take the bus like everyone else, it's just...

For Todd, there's just something special about that first walk in the morning to school. Just looking at all the sights and breathing in the fresh air is a great time for him to reflect, and just slow down a little from all the chaos at school. And he needed that time now more than ever, because of all the pressure from the Valentine's Day Dance, of course. After a thankfully slow fifteen minutes, he arrived at Wayside.

Todd didn't feel like walking up the thirty flights of stairs, so he waited by the gigantic Wayside logo until no one was there. Once Todd made sure he was absolutely alone, he made sure he was perfectly in the center of the giant set of letters, then knocked on the floor with the infamous rhythmic motion known as the ol' "Shave and a Haircut".

The elevator promptly broke through the logo and entered Todd's presence. However, when he opened the door... "Hiya Todd!" yelled you-know-who, waving her hand friendly-like. Todd cupped his hands over his face. "Maurecia, what are you doing in here?" "Oh, you know, the usual. Taking the elevator instead of going up the stairs because I'm not in a Wheels Extreme mood today."

 _"Well, that's a first."_ Todd thought. "Do you need to use it as well? You're more than welcome to!" Next thing Todd knew, he found himself standing next to the most happiest girl in the world. Any time that she spent with him, she was happiest of all, even if it is just for a minute. The two walked into class together, a little bit earlier than usual.

To Todd's embarrassment (and Maurecia's blushing), the whole class except for Myron and Dana widened their eyes and teased, _"Ooooohhhhh!"_ They couldn't help it though; they were only elementary school kids. The pair slid into their assigned seats as Todd tried his best to ignore everyone.

Mrs. Jewels entered the classroom, and then the bell rang. "Sorry I'm a little late, class," she apologized. "There were some terribly cute monkeys bouncing off the walls on the twentieth floor that asked me if I'd like to buy some Girl Scout cookies. Naturally, I bought thirty." She sat down, placed her writing utensils in their spots, and began the lesson.

"Alright class, since Valentine's Day is extremely close, I thought we should learn a little bit about how this precious holiday came to be! So, I want you all to flip to page 247 is your textbooks." Once everyone got to the page, Mrs. Jewels started to explain.

"It all started all the way back in the year 1807. You see class, Valentine's Day was already around at that time, as it is a very old holiday, but it didn't become associated with love until recently." Several kids raised their hands, including Todd. "Yes, Todd?"

"Then what does February 14th have to do with love if that's not what it was originally about?" "Don't worry Todd, I'm getting to that. And it is a very interesting story! You see class, this day was originally used to worship some saints long ago. But it didn't become associated with romance and things like we know today until the 14th century! That is when, of course, the Attack of the Flying Cupids happened and everyone became love struck. Coincidence? I think not!"

"But Mrs. Jewels! How did flying cupids attack in the first place? And how come that doesn't happen nowadays? What if I want to see a cupid flying?!" Myron asked, raising his hand as high as he could. "Well, flying cupids can attack whenever they want, really. And believe me, they still do their job, just not over here. I think it has to do with how strange we all are, how we kind of drive them all away."

"I hope I did a good enough job explaining to you all this wonderful day! And I hope to see you all at the dance this upcoming Friday! It is going to be a blast this year. Oh, and, you didn't hear it from me, but..." Mrs. Jewels continued, lowering her voice to a whisper. _"I hear they're going to have a chocolate fountain with fruit for dipping!"_

The whole class got excited. Some of them were already making plans for what they were going to do, who they were going to bring, etc. But now that Mrs. Jewels hyped them up like that, it seemed as though everyone wanted to have a chance in the spotlight. It's hard to say whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, though.

After all the hype died down, Mrs. Jewels began with a simple arithmetic lesson: dividing things by zero. Mrs. Jewels showed the class how to divide apples by zero, how to divide balloons by zero, and, most importantly, how to divide chocolate chip cookies by zero. Afterwards, the class was given a worksheet for them to quietly work on.

Lucky for Todd, this time he was able to catch on. Everything divided by zero just equaled to zero, so he was able to easily complete his work. "Hey, what problem are you on?" Todd asked Joy. "The fifth one." Todd smirked and said, "Well, I already finished!" Mrs. Jewels heard Todd and promptly wrote his name on the blackboard under the word DISCIPLINE.

Todd didn't want to get in trouble a second time, so he just took out his blueprints for an extra curricular activity and looked over them, forgetting the class' "no blueprints" rule. Now Todd had a check mark next to his name! One more mistake and he would be going home early, like usual. So he decided to just do nothing.

Meanwhile, Maurecia was taking her time to complete the worksheet, spending time on each and every question. She read the seventh question: _"Imagine that you divide five cookies evenly. How many cookies will each person receive?"_ After a little bit of quick math, she found the answer. Reading the question and remembering what Mrs. Jewels said earlier gave her an idea!

She realized she could buy some of the Girl Scout cookies on the twentieth floor and give them to Todd with a card as an invitation for the big dance! It would be perfect! Well... not quite as perfect as ice cream, but still.

And so it was settled! As soon as class got out for recess, Maurecia skated down to the right floor and looked for the Girl Scouts. Sure enough, they had their own very stand at the end of the hall. Maurecia raced down and waited in line. "What kind of nonsense is this?!" Stephen questioned, who was the first person in line. "There aren't any Halloween-themed cookies here?! How disgraceful!"

"We are sorry sir, but we don't sell anything like that. Even around Halloween time. But I'm sure you can find something else extremely yummy here!" the smallest Girl Scout suggested. Stephen scratched his head and promptly left for recess. "Hello! What would you like today?" said another Girl Scout while fixing her brown hair.

That's when it hit Maurecia: which kind would Todd like? Does he even like cookies? _What if he's allergic?!_ There were a ton of choices, everything ranging from butternut squash to plain ol' chocolate chip. But the most coveted were the minty kind, of course.

"Ummm... I'll just take two boxes of chocolate chip. Yeah. That'll be it." She took off her helmet and pulled out a crisp two dollar bill that her father gave her. "Thank you for your purchase! Have a nice day!" squealed one of the Girl Scouts.

* * *

Now that Maurecia has her gift, she needed to find the right time to give it. But that was for another day, of course. Right now it was time for recess, and she still had seven minutes to herself. The only question was, what was she going to do? She could play Wheels Extreme with Jenny, as per usual, but she was feeling a little lovestruck after all that for whatever reason. So, she decided to hang out with Todd.

He was just playing on the monkey bars with Myron, John, and Joe, like usual. Maurecia promptly skated over. "Hiya Todd! Do you think I could play with you guys?" John and Joe snickered at Todd, who didn't hear her. "Hey Todd... your _girlfriend_ is here!" laughed Joe.

"Yeah, you better... uh... lemme think... oh, yeah! Buy her some _jewelry_ or something like that, hahaha!" teased John as he hung upside down on the bars. That's when Todd noticed she was there. "Hi Maurecia!" said Todd and Myron at the same time. **"Jinx!"** Todd quickly shot back. Now Myron was jinxed! He covered his mouth so he wouldn't say anything and ran to Louis. "No, Myron, wait up!" yelled Joe as he chased after him. Now it was just Todd, Maurecia, and John, who was hanging upside down.

"So... what did you need...?" asked Todd rather awkwardly. He was not one to start conversations. "Oh, I was just wondering if I could... hang out with you guys?" Maurecia answered.

John bursted out laughing and fell off the bars. When he got back up, he laughed, "Really now? You want to play with us? What are we even going to do? Put on makeup and talk about all the latest men-pretending-to-be-boys bands?! Puh-lease!" She really wanted to punch the sexism right out of John, put she didn't want to look bad in front of Todd.

"Uh... sure... I guess? We were just going to play The Floor Is Lava. Sounds good?" Todd reluctantly said. "Sure!" The trio began to play, with Maurecia winning with a total of zero falls. But that's just due to her unfair advantage: her roller skates. After a few minutes, the bell rang and it was time to go back to the classroom. Todd ran off in a hurry because he needed to use the bathroom really badly, leaving John and Maurecia to walk back on their own.

"So, hehehe, I bet you want Todd to-" John started to say, but was interrupted by Maurecia punching him in the stomach. He immediately lost all his air and fell to the ground in agony. "That's what you get for teasing me like that!" she exclaimed. Jenny ran over and said, "C'mon Maurecia, we're gonna be late!" The two went off, John still wheezing.

Soon enough everyone was back in class, and now it was time for art. Bebe and Calvin were already set up with their supplies. Today the class was sketching hieroglyphics using pencils and five-year-old paper. Mrs. Jewels was in a pretty relaxed mood, so Maurecia thought she wouldn't notice if she sat next to Todd. Maurecia moved her chair over and asked if she could sit there, to which Todd said yes. He didn't want to be rude.

The pair worked on their drawings together using their history books. But it was only a few minutes before Mrs. Jewels marched over to them and noticed what Maurecia did. "Todd, you know you're not supposed to move seats in class. I have everyone placed in a very organized manner." she said, then wrote Todd's name on the blackboard under the word DISCIPLINE.

Todd didn't want to have to go home early, like usual, so he told Maurecia, "I'm sorry Maurecia, but do you think you could-" Unluckily for him, Mrs. Jewels heard him and put a check by his name before he could finish his sentence. Maurecia realized that Todd could potentially go home early if she kept this up, so she moved back to her seat. Now art time was over and Mrs. Jewels instructed everyone to bring up their masterpieces.

Luckily for Bebe, not only did she have Calvin, but she also had some of her other friends to help her carry her drawings to the front. Mrs. Jewels was impressed, as usual. When it was Todd's turn, however, he barely had anything to bring up because of Maurecia. That was the final straw for Mrs. Jewels (despite some drawing even less than Todd), and she circled his name.

Todd went home early that day, despite trying his best to not cause trouble. This left Maurecia in her own for the rest of the day, so she would just have to try again tomorrow.

 **That's all for now! Sorry if this chapter seemed a little short and rushed, I admit, I did procrastinate a bit. But the next chapter will be even better! And it will focus on characters other than Todd and Maurecia. Stay tuned! Thanks for reading!**


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